Maple Candied Nuts
Time: 10 minutes
Skill level: Intermediate
Preface:
Be careful, y'all. Sugar burns are serious. That said, this is not that hard of a recipe and comes together super quickly. You'll honestly spend more time heating up your pan than actually cooking. Have everything measured out before you get to the stove to make it easier on yourself. This isn't a super high heat caramel, but you should still respect it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup assorted nuts¹
- 1/3 cup Tree Juice Maple Sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- Heavy pinch J.Q. Dickinson Finishing Salt
Equipment
- Large sauté pan
- Silicone spatula
- Parchment paper
Instructions
- Heat your pan over medium heat for around 5 minutes. Add your nuts to a dry pan and toast while constantly stirring. You want to keep the nuts moving around the pan so that they don't burn in any one spot, but get evenly toasted. You'll know they are plenty toasted when you can smell them throughout the kitchen.
- Remove the nuts from the heat and set aside, but keep them close by. In the same pan sprinkle the maple sugar evenly in a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Add your cinnamon and vanilla, then wait. You are waiting for the majority of the maple sugar to melt on the bottom of the pan. This is going to take 1-2 minutes. When there are only a couple of chunky pieces of maple sugar left that haven't begun melting, use your silicone spatula to incorporate them in. Stir constantly until everything is evenly mixed and wisps of smoke start to appear.
- Add the nuts back to the pan and stir the mixture to coat the nuts. Turn off the heat and keep stirring to coat the nuts as much as possible. When you have finished coating the nuts with your caramelized sugar mixture, add your finishing salt and stir one more time. Spread the nuts in an even layer on a parchment lined plate or tray.
- Let the mixture cool to a safe handling temperature, then break apart into bite size chunks.
- Enjoy.
Footnotes
¹ This can be any sort of mix. For the original picture I used macadamia nuts, pecans, pepitas, and sunflower seeds. It really is just about what you have on hand or like. Just start toasting them separately with the biggest nuts like pecans first and add smaller ones like sunflower seeds last.
² This is a perfect topping. Throw some on your ice cream, yogurt, or oatmeal to add crunch. Eat it by itself. Add some dried fruit for a killer trail mix.
³ This is also one of the most easily riff-able recipes. Want it to be more savory? Add thyme and allspice, then use kosher salt throughout instead of finishing salt. Love florals? Add some lavender to the mix. This is a very easy recipe to adapt. I'm excited to see how you mix things up!