It’s pumpkin carving time and that means plenty of pumpkin seeds to do cool things with! I was never a big fan of seeds, pumpkin or otherwise, but I have developed a taste for them in my later years. Good on their own, they are a great compliment to everything from a salad to ice cream. 

One large pumpkin will yield roughly 2 cups of seeds, so let’s use that as a baseline. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2 cups raw pumpkin seeds, washed
2 tbs butter
2 tbs brown sugar, turbinado
2 tbs honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
fresh cracked pepper
coarse sea salt

Heat a sauté pan to medium heat and add the raw pumpkin seeds. Heat for 5 minutes to dry them out and warm them up. Add butter, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, pepper, and sea salt. Heat for 3-4 minutes, until the sugars and butter are melted and the seeds are thoroughly coated.

Transfer seeds to a half sheet baking pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until the seeds are brown and crispy. Don’t be surprised if this takes up to 30 minutes. Let them cool and enjoy as a snack or a garnish.

If you have chickens, save the rest of the pumpkin tailings and feed them to your chickens. Nothing goes to waste, everything gets used.