I love candied nuts. They're perfect to throw on a salad or to throw in the garbage so you don't eat them all ;). We used to make candied almonds every Christmas and give them to neighbors! Then the list of "neighbors" started getting too long so we switched to giving yummy bakery-bought bread - way easier haha.
The great thing about this is you can use basically any combination of nuts you have (almonds are always great, cashews, pictured here are pecans), and you can totally customize the flavors! We've tried and loved lemon, orange, spiced cinnamon, coconut - you can really go any direction you'd like.
For this simple candied nuts recipe I'll just give the basic steps I followed when I made these a few nights ago, and then adjust as desired for flavor experimenting!
Simple Candied Nuts
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups nuts (pecans here)
Directions:
- Spread out wax paper, set aside
- Combine water, sugar and cinnamon in a large saucepan, stir
- Bring to a boil, stir
- Turn down heat slightly (little bubbles) add vanilla and nuts
- Stir constantly for about 10 minutes until all liquid evaporates
- STIR AND WATCH - just as nuts are getting coated in a thick sugary cover, immediately spread onto wax paper and cool
- Enjoy and give them all away before you gain 10 pounds!
