Simple Food- Candied Nuts

Candied Nuts

Yay! I get to use a canning jar! And you know how much I love it.

These are the best nuts you will ever eat. Crunchy coating and the more crap you put on them the better they taste. So, no, these probably are the healthiest snack....but they are still delicious and great for gifts(especially if they are wrapped in a lovely canning jar!!!). I can't help posting them. I use every nut I can find. Lately we have been trying to steer clear of all the starches and all that. So I switched to nuts. We try to stick mostly with almonds, cashews and walnuts. We have also mixed in with this batch pecans because they were on sale. They are my oldest's favorite.

We also have bought hazelnuts and macadamia nuts. 

I. cant. help. my. self.

But lets press on.

Ingredients:

3-4 cups of nuts! I have used any mentioned above, I've mixed raw and roasted, etc. Try anything!

1 egg white

1 T very cold water

any yummies you can think of: honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar, chocolate powder

and more!

recipe:

set oven to 275

Put egg white and 1 T water into a bowl. Mix with a fork until mixture is frothy and well blended. It will not seem like there is enough. Add about 3-4 cups of nuts. Adding more nuts doesn't work as well. The white will make a crunchy shell over the nut. You can, and I have, skipped the egg white/water. But your nuts will not be as candy-crunchy-ish. 

Now the fun part. Add any sweeteners you desire. If you add just honey that is fine, I know some people like to keep these as healthy as possible. What we do, because we use this as a snack, not as a healthy part of a meal, is make these more snacky. So we first add about 1/2 cup of honey and stir stir stir. Then we add about 2 t of salt and sprinkle some cinnamon/sugar. We blend all this together and then add about 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Make sure everything is well coated.

Put all your nuts in the largest cake pan you have. If you don't have a cake pan it will be more difficult to stir but you can use a baking sheet. 

Put this in the oven. Bake about 30-45 min, STIRRING EVERY 10-20 minutes.

Transfer nuts onto a baking sheet. Put back in, bake another 15-30 min, still stirring...carefully....until nuts are crunchy, not spongy, when you taste them. Please....don't burn yourself.

Take nuts out, transfer them into a clean bowl. At this point I usually taste them again. Depending on the variety of nuts and how many I actually used, I may need to make them tastier. I'll add a touch of honey to coat and then stir in salt or cinnamon. I always add some brown sugar to give them that chunky candy look.

You can use these to top off some breads or frosted cupcakes.... or mix them in with some dried fruit and place on the table for a snack for your guests.....or you can just munch as is!

So good! Enjoy!!!