Spicy + Sweet Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

On our way home from the apple orchard last weekend Matt and I stopped by a little pumpkin patch off the highway to see if the "Fresh Raspberries" sign was true and to check out their pumpkin selection. We were greeted by the incredibly nice grower who explained everything to us and showed off their harvest of what he called their "Martha Stewart pumpkin collection." Along with the regular carving pumpkins they had a huge wagon with the most amazing pumpkin varieties I've ever seen. I really wanted to buy one of every kind, but because neither Matt nor I has a place to put big pumpkins we ended up just picking up a couple pie pumpkins, a pint of the best raspberries I've had all summer, and a few mini versions of the Martha Stewart pumpkins.

This is everything we came home with. I was very, very happy.

Here's my favorite. It looks black, but it's actually a really dark green.

I've been debating what I want to do with my pie pumpkins for almost a week now. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, mashed pumpkin... I'm a little indecisive. After drinking my first pumpkin latte of the year yesterday I was inspired to take action, and today I actually got around to cutting into one and making toasted pumpkin seeds.

Spicy + Sweet Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Adapted from Simply Recipes and 101 Cookbooks

Fresh pumpkin seeds

Olive oil

Salt

Sugar

Cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 400.

Here's the lucky pumpkin.

Slice off the stem, and then slice the pumpkin in half lengthwise.

Scoop out all of the seeds with a metal spoon, and separate them from the stringy flesh. I was surprised by how easy this process was.

Scrape out all of the stringy stuff and save the shells for roasting.

Rinse the seeds and pick out any flesh that might remain.

Add the seeds to a saucepan with 2 cups water and 1 tablespoon of salt for each 1/2 cup of seeds. I had about a cup of seeds, so I added 4 cups water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.

While the seeds are simmering drizzle a rimmed baking sheet with a little olive oil.

After simmering for 10 minutes drain the seeds.

Then spread them on the baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and sugar, and then add a few dashes of cayenne. Stir to coat. Place on the top rack of the oven, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until browned to your liking. I took the seeds out to stir them about 10 minutes in and they were a little soft, but after 15 minutes they were perfect.

I think toasted pumpkin seeds taste a lot like popcorn, and with the sugar they're kind of like kettle corn. They're pretty irresistible. I have a feeling that by tomorrow when Matt gets home from his weekend of shooting pheasants they're going to be gone.