A recipe for crunchy, sweet and spiced nuts that can be used as a snack, or included as a delicious addition to your favorite salad or dessert recipes!
These crunchy, sweet and spiced candied nuts are a perfect addition to any salad, dessert or as a gift! I must warn you. They are addicting! I find any excuse I can to include them into my meals.
This recipe features candied almonds and pecans. However, you can use your favorite to create perfect crunchy, flavorful, candied nuts.
The recipe is quite simple, combine your favorite spices (I used cinnamon and nutmeg) with sugar and salt as the coating for the candied nuts.
The nuts are then tossed in a slightly foamy mixture of egg white, water, and vanilla; this allows the sugar and spice coating to adhere to the nuts as they roast. The nuts are then tossed in the sugar and spice coating.
Roast the nuts at 300°F for 15 minutes on a sheet tray lined with lightly greased foil. After 15 minutes, stir the nuts gently with a fork, then roast for an additional 25-30 minutes until crispy in texture and the sugar has adhered to the nuts.
I encourage you to try a sample at different time points to check the composition. As the nuts slowly roast, the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and caramelized sugar fills the air!
This recipe for candied nuts is very simple. You can substitute the spices with other ingredients like ground ginger, cayenne pepper, Chinese five spice to bring some variety to the flavor!
I used pecans and almonds for the nuts that I candied; I especially enjoyed the candied pecans because they were incredibly crunchy and flavorful, the pieces reminded me of all the great baked goods during the holidays! I added these candied nuts to my dulce de leche apple pie recipe.
Candied Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup nuts, pecans or almonds
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ground
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F and set the baking rack to the center position.
- Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, and ground nutmeg in a plastic bag, shake to mix.
- Add egg white, water, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until slightly foamy, add nuts and coat well.
- Using a slotted spoon, lift nuts out of the bowl and place them into the plastic bag of sugar and spices. Shake well to coat thoroughly.
- Spread the sugared nuts on a sheet tray lined with lightly greased foil. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir gently with a fork.
- Bake for an additional 25- 30 minutes, until the nuts are crunchy in texture and the sugar has adhered and dried.
- Allow the nuts to cool on the sheet pan before serving.
Equipment
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Diane Nelson Roberts says
This really is less of a comment and more of a request. Hope you don’t mind! I had (and lost in my last move-alas) a recipe for candied coated pecans made with 2 flavors of coatings – a cinnamon based and a mint based flavors. The recipe differed from yours in that the coating was heated to a soft candy consistency and the pecans were mixed into the candy coating – then put on a waxed baking sheet and separated and cooled. They were extraordinary as presents as Christmas. At least the ones that my family and I didn’t steal! I wondered if you’d run across such a recipe? I am quite desperate to find the recipe again as we enter our Holiday seasons. Thank you!
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Diane- Sounds like you cooked the sugar until it got to a crack stage where when it dried it was glazed and crunchy. Do you remember if you used sugar or brown sugar? I’ve done something similar for caramel popcorn, you can search for that on my website and see if the ratios and procedure were similar.