Spiced Spicy Candied Nuts

November 5, 2014 | No Comments

Welcome to Week 43 of Reddit’s 52 weeks of cooking challenge. This week’s theme is Candied. I was originally going to candy orange peels, cover them in the darkest chocolate I could find, take a picture, and polish them off in one sitting while watching Downton Abbey, but alas I could not locate organic oranges.

I moseyed/sauntered/danced through the bulk isle in the Grocery store the other day humming frosty the snowman, or Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, clearly in a subtle holiday mood.I was looking for a sign from the bulk foods. I stopped in front of the pecans, and It came to me! I knew what I was going to candy! Friends, I think you will agree, nothing says the holidays like spiced candied nuts.

These are so buttery and good with lots of yummy spices and some subtle, lingering heat from the cayenne pepper. You will want to make a double batch or a triple batch. Maybe you will tie these spicy nuts up in a little bag and give them as gifts to friends. Perhaps you will eat these sweet spicy little morsels in bed while coveting a glass or three of red wine. However you eat them, be sure to share some of them with your loved ones.

Spiced Spicy Candied Nuts

Ingredients

3 cups pecan pieces or halves
1 cup walnuts
2 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper(Omit or add less if you don’t care for spicy)
3 Tbsp real maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Spread the pecans and walnuts onto a 1/2 sheet pan or baking sheet and toast them in the oven until dark and fragrant, about 10 minutes
Stir every 4 minutes
While the nuts are toasting, prepare the coating mixture
Microwave the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl until melted
Stir in the brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne
Once the nuts are fragrant, remove them from the oven and pour the hot nuts into the coating mixture. (Be careful as it might splutter and hiss.) Stir until the nuts are evenly coated
Line warm sheet tray with aluminum foil and grease with butter
Pour nuts back onto the baking sheet and spread them in an even layer
Bake for another 10 minutes, stirring after every 4 minutes
After 10 minutes, remove the nuts from the oven and allow them to cool and crisp up on the baking sheet
Once cool, break the nuts apart or chop them coarsely
Store Spiced Spicy Candied nuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week(they do not last that long)