Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds

This is a recipe I came up with a few years ago and I think it's time to whip it out for the blog!  We always had roasted pumpkin seeds after carving Jack-O-Lanterns when I was growing up, but they were only salted and I never dug them all that much.  A few years of toying with seasonings and this is what resulted... now we roast them every year!  Sometimes we even go back for more pumpkins, just for the seeds!  And we've got our pumpkins picked out, ready to carve next weekend... so we'll be making these again to munch on.

Went with "Code Blue" by TSOL... it seemed like it was in the spirit of Halloween (or necrophilia, whichever).  -jen

SEASONED PUMPKIN SEEDS
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hr 20 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy

• seeds of 4 pumpkins (about 3 cups)
• heaping tablespoon of garlic powder
• heaping tablespoon of onion powder
• heaping tablespoon of bacon salt (or seasoning salt)
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon coriander
• 1 tablespoon Caldo de Pollo (or powdered chicken bullion)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• couple dashes of cayenne pepper
• couple dashes of black pepper
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Combine all dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl until well combined.

Rinse pumpkins seeds to get all the pumpkin guts off.  Spread out onto paper towels and pat dry.  Pour dried seeds into a large mixing bowl.  Pour melted butter and Worcestershire over seeds and mix.  Sprinkle about 1/2 of the seasoning onto the buttered seeds and mix... then add more seasoning if desired - some people like them slightly seasoned, some like them heavily seasoned.  (I used about 3/4 of the mix and saved the rest to season some meat for tacos).

Spread the seasoned seeds out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and roast for 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring the seeds up every 15-20 minutes.