One of my very favorite things about the fall season are the pumpkins.

I love baking pumpkins and using the purees in all kinds of recipes.  And I love roasted pumpkin seeds.  Fortunately, roasted pumpkin seeds are a simple, healthy treat to make.

How to Make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1) Remove all the pumpkin seeds from a medium-sized pumpkin.

2) Clean the seeds so that no pumpkin is on them. (My kids love this squishy task!)

3) Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter or margarine.

4) Add 1/2 tsp garlic and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt to the melted butter. (You can add more or less depending on how many seeds you have or what your taste preference is.

5) Toss the butter mixture with your pumpkin seeds.

6) Spread pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet in a single layer.

7) Bake pumpkin seeds in a 300°F oven for 45 minutes, making sure to stir the seeds every 15 minutes so that they don’t stick and burn. They’ll get nice and crunchy and golden brown in the oven.

Enjoy!  You can store the pumpkin seeds in an airtight container for a couple of weeks – but they usually disappear much sooner than that!

What I love about this super simple roasted pumpkin seed recipe is that you can easily change the flavor with whatever spices you have in your pantry.  Add chili powder, cumin, dill, sugar and cinnamon or anything else that strikes your fancy to create an entirely different treat.   My friend Jessica has some great recipes for Sugar and Spice Pumpkin Seeds and Southwestern Pumpkin Seeds, just to give you a few ideas.