Halloween Traditions

My daughter called me up yesterday to chat.  She told me that her husband had not experienced baked pumpkin seeds as part of his childhood Halloween Traditions, as she had in our family.  So after they were married, she introduced him to this October treat.

She knew he really liked them when their oldest visited a Pumpkin Patch with her kindergarten class this year and came home with a very small pumpkin.  
He said, "Let's go buy pumpkins for the two younger ones now."  She said, "Well, we probably don't need two more pumpkins, one would be enough."  
He said, "But think of the SEEDS!"  
And so they bought two more pumpkins.    And baked the seeds.


Here is our method:
Get the pumpkin.  The bigger the pumpkin, the bigger the seeds.  Not more seeds, all pumpkins have the same number of seeds.
 
Cut open the pumpkin.  Scoop out the goop.  Save the seeds in a separate bowl.  Throw out the rest of the goop.  Rinse the seeds and get rid of the extra bits.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (bake for 20 minutes) or 375 degrees (bake for 15 minutes).

Spread seeds out in one layer on a large cookie sheet with sides.  Sprinkle generously with salt.  Put cookie sheet in oven to bake.  Watch timer closely.  The seeds should look a teeny bit dry and crispy before they are ready to come out of the oven.

Enjoy!  (You might need to divide them up into zip bags so that each person has their fair share...label the bags...)