Gifts from the Heart and Home: Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts

Everyone I know who has tasted these nuts are instantly addicted to them!  In fact, my good friend Bob Blumer was so impressed with the big bold flavors of these simple nuts that he dubbed them “Elizabeth Karmel’s Soon-to-be-Famous…” I don’t know about famous, but they do have quite a following!  The beauty of this recipe is that they taste rich and buttery but there is no butter at all.  That gives these candied nuts a longer shelf life and a healthier profile.  But the real reason to make them is because they are delicious.  I make them every week to have on hand for snacking, dressing up salads, cocktail nibbles or for gift-giving.  A mason-jar full of nuts and a pretty ceramic bowl is my favorite housewarming gift--and if you bring these to a party, tell the host or hostess to hide them or they will be gone before you can say Happy Holidays!

Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts

1 cup dark brown sugar
1-2/3 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 pinches of cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 pound walnut halves
1 pound pecan halves
1 pound hazelnuts
2 egg whites, room temperature
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix together sugars, salt, cayenne and cinnamon; set aside.  Beat egg whites until frothy but not stiff, add water and stir until combined.  Add nuts and stir to coat evenly with the egg white foam. Sprinkle nuts with sugar mixture and stir until evenly coated.  Spread sugared nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet fitted with a Silpat or parchment paper--you may need to put mixture on two cookie sheets. 

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally as needed.  Remove from oven and separate nuts as they cool.  Let cool for at least hour before storing in tightly closed container.

Makes 3 pounds

Note:  I first created this recipe using only walnuts.  But quickly found that you can mix or match the nuts to your liking.  The mixture of walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts is my current favorite.  If you only want to make 1 pound of nuts, divide the egg white and water by half and use a combined I cup of sugar--1/3 dark and 2/3 white, a pinch of cayenne, and only 1 teaspoon of salt and cinnamon.

--Elizabeth Karmel

Check out Elizabeth’s favorite kitchen products in the Kitchen & Home Gift Guide.

Comments

[Bulk sms software on May 24, 2010 at 03:01 AM]

Excellent write-up on providing value to readers before asking for anything. I am quite interested in this topic & i hope you will elaborate more on it in future posts.