Vanilla pumpkin seeds

As soon as my two year old started seeing pumpkins in the shops, she was desperate to get her hands on one. They are quite exciting for a little person as look like a brightly coloured ball!

So I bought one to carve for Halloween. I hate to waste the inside of the pumpkin and scraped out both the seeds and flesh ready for cooking.

First I roasted the seeds. I have done this quite a few times, but usually use sunflower oil and salt, possibly some spices. I decided sweet vanilla seeds would be a nice change.

Recipe
80g pumpkin seeds, rinsed and drained (a whole pumpkin's worth!)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
25g sugar (or try 20g I you have a really sweet tooth)
1 capful vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2) Mix everything up really well
3) Spread over a baking sheet, preferably one with silicon paper (available from Lakeland) to make sure they don't stick.
4) Roast for around 15mins, stirring a couple of times, until they are just beginning to brown.

Variations:
I think using cinnamon instead of vanilla would work well, as would mixed spice.

I hope this encourages you not to throw away your seeds this year!