Caramelized Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

After carving our pumpkins (photo coming..) I like to bake the seeds. Andre doesn't like them, but I think they are yuuuuummmmy! Plus, pumpkin seeds have loads of health benefits. Read about the benefits here. Last year, I made on spicy batch and one sweet batch. This year, I totally went crazy and just combined the two!

I followed this recipe from Allrecipes.com, but I didn't use ginger. Ginger isn't one of my fav's, so I just left it out. :)

Ingredients

• 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

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.(I used freezer paper.)
   
2. In a large bowl, stir together 3 tablespoons of sugar, the cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne pepper, and set aside.
3. 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.
4. 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.

This is a great snack! Enjoy!