Cooking Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

When I was a kid my mother would buy one pumpkin for all my five siblings and I to share. We would take turns carving into it making sure each person had equal time with the small serrated bread knife which was so dull, it was painful. After a jagged circle was cut out at the top of our pumpkin, someone would scoop the stringy, wet insides out along with the seeds and place them in a bowl. Mom would quietly take the bowl to the kitchen where she would rinse them, coat them in a little melted butter, and season them with a sprinkle of table salt. The aroma of pumpkin seeds roasting in the oven filled us with excitement and anticipation as we worked on carving our jack-o-lantern.

As soon as the seeds were ready, mom would transfer them to a bowl and walk over to each and every one of us to make sure we all had equal opportunity to eat as many roasted pumpkin seeds our hands could grab. Eating those seeds was always more satisfying than carving pumpkins.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons butter, melted

salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Scoop out all the seeds from the inside of a pumpkin and place them in a large bowl. Pick out as much of the flesh and strings from the bowl and rinse the seeds. Remove seeds from the bowl and place in another clean bowl. Stir in melted butter until all the seeds are coated. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray or line it with parchment paper. Spread the seeds across the baking sheet without overlapping too much and lightly season with salt – I prefer kosher or sea salt. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the pumpkin seeds are light golden brown. Be sure to stir the seeds halfway through the baking. Remove from the oven and carefully stir the seeds again to release any that may have stuck to the baking sheet. Be sure to allow the pumpkin seeds to completely cool before serving. Enjoy!