I Put a Spell on You

Alright, so If you’re doing Halloween remotely right, there are very good odds you have already, or will be carving up a pumpkin very soon. And when you’re in there, getting elbow deep in pumpkin guts, you may or may not know about the treasure hidden inside these orange globes of fall goodness. So allow me to shed some light.

It was 2 whole years ago (yikes) when we not only carved our first pumpkin, but I roasted seeds for the first time. If you go back and read that post by clicking here – which you should since it’s a great recipe and has more info on roasting – you’ll see I attempted and failed miserably (I’ll never forget that heartache) to make the seeds I’m sharing with you today. So it was good to read that again and feel like I won a battle I’ve lost in the past. Show me a mountain now and I shall climb it!

Ok, that’s pushing it. But still! Show me pumpkin seeds and I will roast them!

But… Before we get into the roasting, allow me to dump some pumpkin patch pictures on you.

For the first time, despite my wife not being crazy about Halloween, we ventured out an hour and a half to a farm where you can pick pumpkins, get lost in a corn maze, and take a hayride.

We only did the patch because we weren’t planning on making it a day long event. And it’s a good thing too because if everything else was anything like the pumpkin patch, we would’ve been even more disappointed than we already were.

There were 7 acres I think of pumpkins to pick, but there were only about 4 or 5 good clusters of pumpkins to choose from. And even those had all dented backs or cracks in the bottom.

I know, the back is the back. But I get all Clark Griswold when I choose a pumpkin so I wasn’t having any imperfections. The Perez Family Pumpkin should be the greatest pumpkin you’ve ever seen!

Ha, no, unfortunately, we did not buy a pumpkin so big we needed to strap it to the roof of the van.

In fact, after combing the patch and not being happy with anything, we chalked it up as a loss and headed back home.

We stopped at one of those roadside pumpkin places by the wife’s job similar to the Christmas Tree corner emporiums. Turns out they had a bunch of great pumpkins and they were priced so well we got 2!

Brought them home, cracked one open, and here we are! Seeds!

Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups – Pumpkin Seeds, cleaned and dry
2 tablespoons – Butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon – Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 teaspoon – Cinnamon
1 tablespoon – Brown Sugar
pinch – Salt

1 tablespoon – Butter, melted
1 tablespoon – Sugar
1/2 teaspoon – Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 tablespoon – Sugar
1/2 teaspoon – Pumpkin Pie Spice
little less than 1/4 teaspoon – Nutmeg, freshly grated

Notes:

• Woooooo, looks complicated, huh? Looks like a lot? Well, it’s a hell of a lot more than the last seed recipe which was only olive oil and salt (simple is the freaking best). But even though it doesn’t look it, this is fairly simple and just a little time consuming.
• I have 3 separate batches of sugar and spices there, each one should be added at the designated time. Think those logs Doc threw into the train’s firebox to get the fire hot enough to get the train up to 88mph.
• Go ahead, ask me what I’m talking about and see how fast I unfriend you.
• Judging by my overall success with this recipe, I wonder what happened the first time I failed at it. I think it was just throwing everything in there and baking at a high temp. Roasting pumpkin seeds is like driving a ’59 Impala: Low n’ slow.
• If you’re not a fan of Pumpkin Pie Spice, first off, who the hell are you?! And second, you can replace it with more cinnamon which I’m sure will be great.
• If you’re not a fan cinnamon, then what the heck are you even doing here?!

Alright, let’s roast some seeds!

• Set the oven to 325. Assuming you already extracted the seeds from the pumpkin, and separated them from the guts, it’s time to clean them. So put them in a big bowl of water and stir them up and swoosh them around. You’ll see the seeds float to the top and the stuff you don’t want sink to the bottom.

• Next, get a baking sheet and line it with parchment and give it a spray with non-stick. Put the seeds on an even layer and put them in the oven for 10 minutes, while taking them out halfway to stir them up. While they’re in there, melt your butter.

You’re drying them out here and making it easier for whatever you’re going to put on them to stay on them.

• Once they’re out put them in a bowl, and on top, pour the melted butter, and sprinkle the first round of seasonings. Give it a good stir.

• Spray the parchment with non-stick again (I wasn’t playing this time, I took no chances), and put the seeds in a single layer.

• In the oven they go for 7 minutes.

• Take them out and put them in the same bowl you used before. Give them round 2 of the butter, sugar and spice. Stir it up. Spray the parchment again (yeah, again!) and put the seeds back in a single layer and pop them in for another 7 minutes.

Notice the change in color!

• When they come out this time, you’ll probably have to give the parchment a wipe down thanks to the insane amount of non-stick I’m telling you to dose it with. Sorry, I’m traumatized, give me a break. Get the seeds back in the bowl and give them the last round of spices and sugar. Stir them up and back on the parchment they go. Same routine, but this time go for 12-14 minutes while stirring them halfway.

Use your instincts though. If you need to take them out sooner, you gotta do what you gotta do. But this awesome color is what you’re looking for.

And that’s it. You should have some nicely spiced up pumpkin seeds! Don’t get me wrong, there’s still something about the salt and oil ones that make them just perfect, but these liven up the party just as good.

Here’s to hoping your pumpkin carving ends with a nice pile of these babies in your hands! Hope everyone stays safe! Happy Halloween!

Oh, and if you’re curious and not following me on Instagram, here is the bearer of these seeds, the first of two pumpkins we’re carving!

And yeah, I know. I totally nailed the symbol on Spidey’s chest.

Adios.