Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Caramelized Spicy Pumpkin seeds


Went to the pumpkin patch/farm around the corner from our house and bought a small pumpkin over the weekend. Last year, when I bought a pumpkin, I pureed it for my daughter's baby food. This year, I have so much planned for this pumpkin. But I almost forgot how hard it was last year to peel and cook a whole pumpkin. When I saw all the seeds, I thought of making a sweet and spicy snack with it. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it was quite tasty. My daughter even liked it. The recipe called for ground ginger, but I decided to omit it. This can also be easily cut into half, which is what I did. The seeds in the pumpkin only came out to be about a cup. The rest of the pumpkin will be pureed and I plan on making soup and a dessert with it. I love the fall :)

3 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds, washed and dried
cooking spray
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons white sugar

1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl, stir together 3 tablespoons of sugar, the cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne pepper, and set aside.
Place the pumpkin seeds on the prepared baking sheet, spray them with cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt to taste. Bake the seeds in the preheated oven until lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

3) Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, and stir in the toasted pumpkin seeds along with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cook and stir the seeds until the sugar forms a coating on the seeds, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir the caramelized seeds into the bowl of sugar-spice mixture, toss to coat, and let cool.

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