Caramelized Sweet Pumpkin Seeds & Savory/Spicy Pumpkin Seeds: Cooking with Lydia!

CARAMELIZED SWEET PUMPKIN SEEDS

I thought it would be nice to share one of my favorite Autumn recipes with all of you: Caramelized Sweet Pumpkin Seeds! They are so delicious, and very easy to make. 

Two of the best things about Halloween: 

1. Carving Pumpkins 2. Roasting the Seeds

INGREDIENTS: 

(I "eyeball" my ingredients, so the measurements are not exact):

-Pumpkin seeds; cleaned and dried overnight (I used seeds from from 1.5 large pumpkins.) This week three pumpkins were carved, so I split the seeds between two batches.

-Cinnamon  (3tbsp)

-Pumpkin Pie Spice (2tbsp)

-Vanilla Extract (1tsp)

-Brown Sugar (light or dark, it doesn't matter) (3tbsp)

-Sea Salt (1/2 tsp)

-Unsalted Butter (3tbsp?) (Please note that you want to use butter for this particular recipe since it's a "sweet" one. If you want to make a savory/spicy pumpkin seed batch, use EVOO!)

DIRECTIONS:

*Lightly grease cast iron skillet with unsalted butter and allow it to reach medium heat. Mix other ingredients together in a bowl, then add to skillet. Saute for 10 minutes (varying) until golden brown. Stir often so they do not burn!  Remove from skillet and let cool. Enjoy! 

Add butter to skillet and melt on medium heat

Add pumpkin seeds (coated in ingredients) to the skillet and saute for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

-Cook until golden brown (you'll hear a tiny little popping noise)

-Lay on parchment paper to cool, and then serve! 

(Be sure to put any leftovers in an air-tight container to keep them fresh!) :) 

VIDEO

Watch the little two minute video below if you'd like to try your hand at these!

PREFER A LITTLE SPICE IN YOUR LIFE??? 

TRY THIS RECIPE BELOW!

Savory/Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients: 

(One again, I "eyeball" my ingredients, so this is only a guesstimate of what I put into these!)

-Pumpkin Seeds (from 1.5 large pumpkins)

-Chili Powder (2tbsp)

-Dill Weed (3tbsp)

-Ground Mustard (1tsp)

-Cinnamon (1tsp)

-Garlic Powder (1tbsp)

-Louisiana Hot Sauce (a few shakes)

-Worcestershire Sauce (3tbsp)

-Black Peppercorn (generous amount)

-Sea Salt (generous amount; but bare in mind Garlic Salt has sodium also)

Tony Chahere's Creole Seasoning (Original) (2tbsp)

-Lime Juice (drizzle)

-EVOO (generous amount in the cast iron skillet...it will dissolve faster than butter, so you may need to add more during cooking to prevent burning the pumpkin seeds) 

DIRECTIONS

-Coat pumpkin seeds in a light layer of EVOO, then stir in other ingredients. Saute over medium heat  in an EVOO coated, cast iron skillet for about 10 minutes. Add in more EVOO as needed to the skillet. Cook until a nice golden color. Serve! Enjoy! 

FINISHED PRODUCT: Savory/Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

Left: Savory/Spicy Pumpkin Seeds. Right: Caramelized Sweet Pumpkin Seeds. 

Can't decide which ones to make? Try both! 

No Kitchen is complete without a little helper like Mykelti! Isn't she adorable?!