toasty

In the past, I've had trouble with roasted pumpkin seeds tasting a bit off or burnt despite my best effort to keep an eye on them while toasting.

The standard drill is to coat seeds in butter/oil, sprinkle with flavorings of choice, and bake. It occurred to me that the oil might be developing a rancid flavor while being heated in the oven, so this time I omitted it entirely, and took a page from granola-making and dropped the temperature for a more gradual drying process. The moisture on the raw seeds was enough to get the seasoning to stick, and efforts were rewarded with nutty, crunchy seeds. I found that the different flavors came out more clearly sans oil, too.

Roasted Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Heat oven to 300F. Spread raw seeds from a pumpkin out over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cumin. Bake 20 minutes, stir seeds around, add more seasoning if needed, then return to oven for another 25 minutes, or until they taste toasty and done.