Saturday, December 15, 2012

Awww, Nuts

'Tis the Season for nuts!
Yesterday I made 8 pounds of Sugared Pecans.
These make great gifts for the holidays! Throw some in a cellophane bag and tie them up with curling ribbon. I give them to the UPS man, the lady at the Post Office, the Vet, the Hairdresser. Well, if I HAD a hairdresser, I'd give her some.

Let's do this!

Here's what we need to get started:
4 cups raw pecan halves
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 275°. Or 225°. Or 250°. 
Really, it's not that important. Point is, you want to roast 'em low and slow.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Drop the egg white into a large stainless steel bowl and whisk it till it's good and frothy.
Add the water, sugar, salt, & cinnamon and keep whisking until it's thick and merengue-y.
Add the pecans and toss them gently until they're covered in gooey goodness.



Dump the pecans onto your baking sheet and spread them into a single layer.
Bake 'em for about 45 minutes, gently stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the merengue is golden brown.

Let them sit awhile and cool down, then remove them from the baking pan using a metal spatula. Once they've cooled off, they'll crisp up deliciously....

Now make another batch, because once you try one ... or three ... or a handful, you may not want to give them away!






4 comments:

  1. Betcey:
    A tsp of vanilla enhances these! I make them every year for gifts too!

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  2. Ahh, that sounds like a good addition, Nancy!
    I think in that case, I'd suggest eliminating the teaspoon of water ... or do you use the little bit of water as well as the vanilla?

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  3. Seconding Nancy's addition of Vanilla. I made another few batches last night, and swapped out the teaspoon of water for 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. . . and they're twice as good! Making a permanent change in my recipe file!

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  4. ... and a related recipe for homemade Smokehouse Almonds:
    http://beyondbeadery.blogspot.com/2011/12/lets-make-batch-of-smoky-almonds.html

    ReplyDelete