Normally I wouldn’t have our first non-book inspired menu so early in the year, but I’m a wild X-Files fan. So you can only imagine how much I flailed when I heard a new season was coming out. I decided I didn’t care that it was only February and that it might be a bit weird to follow up King Arthur with a sci-fi show. I was making an X-Files menu, come hell or high water contaminated with a symbiotic black oil alien species.
These spicy honey-roasted sunflower seeds are an easy way to pay homage to Fox Mulder, everyone’s favorite spooky FBI agent. The preparation is literally done in minutes, and they only take 1o minutes to roast…leaving you plenty of time to hunt grays with a tasty snack at your side!
Mulder’s Sunflower Seeds: An Alison’s Wonderland Original Recipe ©
“What if I like sunflower seeds because I’m genetically predisposed to liking them…it’s genetic memory, Scully!”
— The X-Files
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2-3 strong dashes cayenne pepper (2 dashes gives you a little pepper flavor and mild heat, while 3 dashes make it much spicier)
Makes 1 cup honey-roasted sunflower seeds
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat your oven to 325°.
- Stir together all your ingredients in a medium-sized bowl with a spatula until thoroughly combined.
To keep the honey from sticking to your teaspoon and spatula, lightly coat both of them with cooking spray before use. - Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and coat the tinfoil with cooking spray. Scoop the seeds onto the foil and spread them out, breaking up the lumps with your spatula as much as you can.
- Bake for 5-7 minutes or until lightly golden brown. At the 3 minutes mark, take out the pan and spread out the seeds even more until they are a single later (it’s much easier to do this after the seeds having been cooking for a while, since the honey will be thinner and less sticky).
- Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the seeds to cool completely on the pan, which should take 5-10 minutes. Gently remove the seeds from the tinfoil (they may try to stick to the foil, but they should come away cleanly if you pull slowly and gently). Since the honey will have firmed up, the seeds will likely pull away from the foil in large pieces. Break up the pieces into individual seeds using your hands.
- Serve to your teammates to keep morale up on a late night UFO stakeout.
I store mine in a sealed Tupperware container at room temperature. After they settle, they can stick to each other a bit, so I recommend shaking the container before you open it to loosen them up.
I have not seen X-Files, but these sound really tasty! I must make them. ^ ^
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X-Files is one of my all-time favorites. I don’t normally like shows that have aliens as a main theme, but I REALLY like the way they do it in this one. Plus, a lot of the monsters they meet (even the more obscure ones) are inspired by real lore, which makes the storyteller in me very happy indeed. ^.^
Mulder eats sunflower seeds constantly throughout the show, and since honey-roasted sunflower seeds are pretty easy to make your own recipe for, I figured this would be a great chance to make an original recipe (I want to feature at least one original recipe in all my menus this year). I was so happy with how they turned out—just the right balance of sweet and spicy!
OMGG I LOVE SUNFLOWER SEEDS. I actually literally live off them since I don’t eat any grains or nuts. xD So basically this recipe calls to me and I need it. hehe. (Although I haven’t seen X-Files…one day….I shall. XD)
Thanks! I kept scarfing them when I was supposed to be taking pictures! ^.^
They’re a good substitute for the walnuts in the Shrubbery Salad I posted for Monty Python a while back too.
[…] try not to spill any sunflower seeds on your […]
[…] P.S. If it’s your first time using royal icing, I recommend Julia Usher’s how-to Youtube video. She has a lot of good tips and tricks to make it easier. P.P.S. Wondering why I’m doing a TV menu and not a book menu this month? All the answers can be found here. […]