As we walked past the cart selling candied nuts at the mall, Alexis began her pleas. "Can we buy some? Pleeeeeease?"
The answer was a resounding "NO" because we had literally just eaten lunch. Asking for more food less than ten minutes after declaring yourself full doesn't go over well with me. But, as a consolation, I told the kid we could just make some when we got home.
I'm pretty sure the whole world heard the record scratch sound in her head as she stopped in her tracks and incredulously said, "WHAT? WE CAN MAKE THEM?"
Um, oops? Apparently I haven't made them in recent enough history for Alexis to remember how easy they are?
I fixed it.
There are two ways to get from Point A to Point EAT THEM! with candied nuts. One involves standing in front of a stove and stirring a lot. The other involves throwing things on a cookie sheet and walking away. Go ahead and guess which path I prefer.
Follow the little gingerbread man to the easy way ... aka my friend Liz's recipe.
Candied Pecans
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups pecans (I get them at Sam's Club or similar because they are WAY less expensive that way)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Toss the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl. Use a fork or whisk to mix them all up.
3. In a big bowl, use a fork to mix up the egg white, water, and vanilla extract. You want it to be foamy.
4. Throw the pecans in with the egg white and toss until the nuts are thoroughly coated.
5. Throw the cinnamon and sugar in with the pecans and mix things up some more. You're done when the nuts are evenly coated with sugar and cinnamon goodness.
6. Spread the nuts out on your cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 60 minutes, stirring and flipping and such every 20 minutes during the baking time.
7. Be super impressed at how many times I've said "nuts" in this post without making some sort of immature comment. Weeeeeee!