H3 Recipe Bonus: Sweet & Salty Thai Candied Pumpkin Seeds

[caption id="attachment_3903" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="All smiles - must have tasted his candied seeds!"][/caption]

Have you carved your pumpkin yet?  Make sure to save your seeds – and turn them into delicious Thai Candied Pumpkin seed treats! 

Trick your friends by surprising them with a nutritious and healthy alternative to the mounds of candy bars and chocolates handed out this weekend.  Pumpkin is a lower fat seed and rich in zinc and protein, but when mixed with sweet-hot-salty syrup and baked until crunchy they do become rather addictive so be sure to follow the portion size!

Here’s the recipe from the H3 kitchen:



Thai Candied Pumpkin Seeds

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Demerara (raw) sugar


• ¼ cup water


• ½ cup maple syrup


• 1 tsp cayenne pepper


• 1 tsp kosher salt


• 3 cups raw pumpkin seeds

PREPARATION:

• Heat oven to 400°.

• Combine first five ingredients in a sauce pot and gently simmer to a light caramel

• Stir in pumpkin seeds

• Spread seeds thinly on a spray-oiled baking sheet and place in hot oven for 10 minutes

• Remove from oven and stir seeds with a broad, flat, metal spatula, pulling seeds from the edges of the pan to the middle and the middle to the edges to help evenly brown

• Return pan to oven and bake 5-10 minutes longer until seeds are vigorously bubbling, watch carefully

• Remove from oven and stir again. The stirring causes crystallization

• Scatter seeds onto a sheet of parchment or wax paper and allow to cool

• When cool break apart

• Store in an air-tight container

Number of servings: 24

Serving Size: 2 Tbsp

Calories: 189

Fat Grams: 12

Protein: 8 grams