Arrash is VERY into Halloween—& Christmas, but we’ll save that for another post.
For weeks now, he’s been telling me, “We have to get our pumpkins. We have to carve our pumpkins”.
About a week ago, we finally picked up two pumpkins, kind of on the smaller side, from Trader Joe’s & we got carving tools from Walgreens.
I wasn’t totally into the idea at first, but once we got into it, I LOVE IT. Carving is super fun—& kind of relaxing too. I feel like all these activities we use to do when we were kids, like drawing, have this kind of meditative feel to them now. Don’t you think? They’re oddly relaxing.
[ Our pumpkins. Can you guess which is mine & which one is his? ]
Anyways, before we started, we decided to save our pumpkin seeds so we could roast them after we finished carving the pumpkins.
It was so much fun carving pumpkins & then winging a very fall-ish recipe together!
& we definitely winged it.
Here’s the recipe we threw together, literally…
What you need:
- Pumpkin seeds
- Butter (we used Kerrygold—if you want to keep it dairy-free, use olive oil instead)
- Honey
- Seasoning: pumpkin pie spice, paprika, pepper & garlic salt
& parchment paper! : )
Here’s the 2-part recipe (don’t get scared, it’s super quick & easy):
Part 1—in the skillet pan
- Rinse the seeds, if they’re straight from a pumpkin, drain them, and put them in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, melt some butter in the microwave. Once melted, stir in some honey, and pour it over the pumpkin seeds.
- Add your seasonings (pumpkin pie spice, paprika, pepper & garlic salt), & stir the pumpkin seeds.
- Put some butter in your skillet pan and roast the seeds in the skillet on medium heat, stirring constantly (so the seeds don’t burn).
- Add more honey & seasoning as you like : )
- After the seeds are roasted the way you like them, turn it off, & move on to part 2.
Part 2—in the oven
- Lay out some parchment paper on a baking tray and pour your seeds on top, laying them flat. We’re going to pop them into the oven to dry them out a bit. Heat the oven to 450, and, if you’d like, drizzle some honey over the seeds before popping them into the oven. (We did this & it was delicious! Kind of like an extra glaze.)
- Taste test them & take them out as soon as they’re dry enough & taste the way you like them : )
We snacked on them immediately, after they cooled down just a bit, & put the leftovers in the fridge.
& let me tell you, they’re REALLLLY good coming out of the fridge.
We liked them best that way.
This recipe is inspired by Halloween, but it’s also perfect for taking to Thanksgiving dinner, which we’ll definitely be doing this year.
Let me know if you try this recipe, how you like it. & LMK, if this kind of loose recipe works well for you or if you’d rather have a more measured recipe in the future : ) I love hearing your feedback. Thanks for reading!
HAPPY (almost) HALLOWEEN! xx
<3,
Bita
[ My niece & nephew, Shireen & Nadav, made this for us with their 3D-printer (so cool!) since Arrash is obsessed with The Nightmare before Christmas. Super sweet of them! & so good. They’re 9. ]
Cooking essentials + cute bowls for snacking:
