I don't know about you but I hate eating nuts (har har - get your mind out of the gutter). Raw, roasted, flavored - I hate them. Except peanut butter...oh Lord I could but peanut butter on everything. Any-who, I hated all nuts until I was at a friend's parent's house. Her mom had made maple candied walnuts that she used to sprinkle on hot cereal. I could not stop eating them! (Sorry, Sally). So, in an attempt to add more variety to my diet and add a daily sweet treat, I came up with these: Maple Candied Nuts.
This recipe is super-duper simple and uses only 2 ingredients and 25 minutes of your time and makes for an awesome, sweet snack to chow on all week long.
First, grab yourself some 100% natural maple syrup. Mine is obviously from Costco, and I think it is the best deal out there atm. You'll also need a bunch of nuts - anything will work. My favorites are pecans, but I had some almonds I needed to get through so I tossed them in too. Shown here is probably 2 or 3 cups.
Now comes the sketchy part of my cooking: I measure nothing. Ever. Sorry. (Just quietly: no I'm not). I put a little bit more maple syrup in the pan than was needed to coat the nuts - maybe a half cup or so. I then turned on the burner to medium and stirred everything up, making sure every nut was coated in mapely goodness.
This is an awful shot, I know, but I wanted to show how the syrup will boil. Let it bubble away, stirring regularly, until the syrup is reduced. Let it get to the point where there isn't much left in the bottom of the pan when you stir your nuts around (about 10 minutes - again,
Once you've boiled off the syrup, transfer the coated nuts to a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread 'em out and pop them in a 275-300 degree oven. This is important. KEEP AN EYE ON THESE GUYS 'CAUSE THEY WILL BURN!!!!!! In about 15 minutes they will start to look crystalline and dry. Pull them out and let them cool completely.
I break them all apart by rolling up the parchment starting at one end. I then section them out into little containers as snacks for the week!
BLOOPER REEL: My first attempt at these I used WAX paper instead of parchment. #facepalm. Second attempt I used foil which stuck to the nuts like you wouldn't believe. #doublefacepalm. Third attempt I left these bad boys in the oven too long and scorched the bejeezus out of them. #learnfrommymistakes.
Made the recipe today. Did Walnuts and Pecans (because that's all we had in the house except sunflower seeds and garlic flavored almonds). The pecans were great. I'm iffy on the walnuts. Bill liked them enough that he went to the store to see if he could get some unflavored Almonds, Philberts, etc. to try in the next batch. Thanks for the great recipe.
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