Farmer's Market Bounty: Candied Squash Seeds

There have been so many squashes in our house over the last several weeks and I'm glad of it, since it means I got the excuse to try these candied pumpkin seeds. They taste delicious! However... I made some significant adjustments to the recipe since I had trouble with them being too chewy.

The first thing I did was boil the cleaned seeds in unsalted water for at least 10 minutes. Then I followed the recipe, cooking the spices together with the butter and sugar in a sauce pan and then adding the drained seeds. But for some reason the mixture was just all too runny. After letting them simmer for a long time in hopes that the candy sauce would cook down to a thicker consistency, I gave up, took them off the heat and then spread the gooey seeds onto a sheet of wax paper, in hopes that the mixture would dry out. No luck. So then I sprayed some non-stick spray onto a cookie sheet and roasted them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes--after 5 minutes, I kept a very close eye. And that did the trick! They were clumped together in chip-sized bites. They were crunchy and not chewy. And they didn't last long, a sad detail considering how long it took me to get the seeds clean. If I could find an easy way to clean all the seeds we ultimately compost, I would make these all the time. Sadly, I think it will be awhile before I build up the endurance to make these again. Even if I don't make candied squash seed right away, I have to admit that my immediate response to the final product was that I wanted to candy everything in the house, in particular, I wanted to abscond with all of the nuts that Sean uses for his various healthy snacks (his homemade power bars, and his muesli cereal) and candy them all! Sadly, he didn't agree with this plan.