Spicy Candied Pecans

I love the candied nuts people put out at the holidays but am always aghast at how much they cost. After picking them up and quickly putting them back down again after looking at the price at least four times recently, I decided to make my own.

I bought the nuts at Trader Joe's because they always have really good deals on nuts and dried fruits - a 1 pound bag of organic raw pecans was only $5.69. I found plenty of recipes online - below is one from Slashfood that I've modified slightly to make it slightly spicy, as opposed to just spiced.

This seems like something you could play around with quite a bit and always have it turn out yummy. For instance, you could probably replace the sugar with maple syrup or play with the spices to create something with a more middle eastern flavor - cardamom, cumin, etc. Candied walnuts would also be good.

Spiced Candied Pecans

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups raw pecans
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, stir the pecans with the egg white.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Pour over the nuts and stir until evenly coated.

4. Spread in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Slide parchment paper (with nuts still on it) off of the baking sheet and onto a wire rack (or the counter) to cool.

6. Break nuts up into a bowl to serve or store at room temperature in an airtight container.