Only 2 days until Halloween, have you carved your pumpkin yet? I picked, carved and tossed my pumpkin already. It only lasted about 1 week before it started to smell when you got within 10 feet. I had an awesome pumpkin too: brilliant white with no blemishes. I carved out a smooth and simple design that had my roommate thinking it was fake from far away – I must be a darn good carver. But before you throw out the insides to your pumpkin try this recipe out for size. It’s a unique seasoning combination that is surprisingly good.
I leave the seeds in the shell because it’s a pain to remove them all but also because the seeds are a good source of nutrition. Elise at Simply Recipes just posted a recipe for Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and suggests boiling the seeds in salt water for about 10 minutes before baking. I haven’t tried this method but it sounds like a good way to salt the seeds and further soften the shells. If you’re keeping them in the shell, make sure you use a smaller cooking pumpkin – the larger pumpkins have larger seeds with much tougher shells.
There are a couple of new features here at the Peanut Butter Boy. You can now easily contact me by clicking “Contact” on the menu above. Or for those of you curious about the man behind the jar, check out the new “About” section on the menu bar above.
Boo! Here was my pumpkin. Do you know what the carving is supposed to be?
pumpkin seeds
salt
cinnamon
cooking spray
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with cooking spray. Remove all the pulp from the seeds and rinse with water. Dry them and spread out on the baking sheet and spray the top with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and cinnamon.
2. Bake for 5 minutes, remove the tray, stir the seeds and sprinkle with extra cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Place back in the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until seeds begin to brown and get toasted. Stir the seeds every 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. If you store them before they cool they will become chewy and difficult to eat.
Awesome recipe! I love the idea of this, especially since cinnamon is my favorite! Thanks for sharing! Have a Happy Halloween!
Meg
sounds delish!!! we’re carving some today at work i may have to rescue some :)
Oh wow, I’ll bet these are great!
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse.
YUM!!
Love the pumpkin – looks like the masked killer in the movie ‘Scream’
Such a great pumpkin! I wish I’d carved one this year. Just didn’t get around to it.
And that way I could eat those tasty looking seeds, too… maybe I’ll go out and get a post-Halloween pumpkin to carve and eat:)
yum! i love pumpkin seeds… and in a few days, i’ll have so many to play with. these look like a great idea :)
Megan, Cinnamon is my #1 spice too, Happy Halloween!
ttfn300, Score!
Veggiegirl, Yes! Congrats, you got it! I found an image of the “Scream” mask and carved it based on that.
Sagan, Hey, maybe the pumpkins will be on sale afterwards, cheap fun and cheap seeds!
Heather, Give these a try for sure, even if you only make a small batch of them.
Delicious!that’s just the way I like my pumpkin seeds:)
Boolicious pumpkin!
i never thought about adding cinnamon… i’m usually the typical salt and seeds kind of girl. but i’ve got a pumpkin leftover from halloween… maybe i’ll try this out.
well, you said the magic word–cinnamon. i’ve seen a lot of pumpkin seeds over the past few weeks, but no others with cinnamon. that being said, yours are clearly the best. :)
Nick, considering your love of PB, you should enter my ZAP peanut butter giveaway… all you have to do is enter a comment telling me “what motivates you to stay healthy”
http://stevianspice.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/zap-contest-enter-now/
Boo! What a lovely idea! And the pumpkin face is awesome too!
Miss V, Give it a go, it will surprise you (in a good way).
Grace, I use cinnamon on everything, it’s my #1 favorite spice. Plus apparently it’s incredibly good for you too.
Catherine, Thanks for the heads up! I’m entered for sure, must try Zap!
Clumbsycookie, Thanks!
I have a couple of fresh, sweet pumpkins sitting on my kitchen table. I need to clean them out and make some muffins or something. And these seeds look awesome. Cinnamon? Wow, good idea! I’ll try it.
Melissa
Just discovered ur blog. what a neat place!
Hey nick! I linked to this recipe on my blog, its so great! I added chili powder to the cinnamon and it was awesome, thanks!