Cinnamon nuts - crunchy, sweet and salty - are one of our favorite fall snacks. This recipe is super easy, and it's good for snacking or for sprinkling on ice cream and other desserts.
We bought a large bag of sliced almonds in a bulk foods section, tossed them with egg whites, spices and sugar, and roasted at a low temperature - easy and delicious. It makes your house smell wonderful, too!
Spicy Sweet and Salty Almonds
1 pound
Softened unsalted butter
1 egg white
1 pound flaked or slivered almonds
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon chunky kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Heat the oven to 325°F. Line a large, shallow baking sheet with foil, and butter thoroughly.
Beat the egg white until soft peaks form. Pour the nuts into the bowl and stir to coat well. Combine the sugar, kosher salt and spices, and stir into the almond mixture. Taste test, if you don't mind the raw egg whites! Adjust salt, spices, and sugar to taste if necessary.
Spread the nuts out evenly in the pan and until golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Stir several times after the first 15 minutes to make sure they toast evenly.
Serve on ice cream or baked fruit, or eat straight from a bowl.
Related Links
• Recipe: Spiced Cream and Plum Verrines with Cinnamon Almonds
• On the Menu: Fall Snacks
• Fall Snacking: Peanut Butter Popcorn
• How To: Make Popcorn
(Image: Faith Hopler)
Re-edited from post originally published on September 24, 2007
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How interesting, I like to do this with sugar, salt and five spice powder and I only toss it in oil to make sure it all sticks. This sounds much more like dessert or something to sprinkle on a pie for tasty decoration.
As I like to joke - I work with nuts...so I like a good nut recipe.
Check out our by the pound sliced and slivered (and 25 other kinds of) almonds here - http://www.nutsonline.com. Way fresher and less expensive than the stale bulk stuff in grocery stores, and of a much better quality than the, er, "national brand" in the baking aisle.
We are a favorite nut source with bakers.
Does this hold up similarly well with whole almonds, or even pecans or walnuts? And, how about storage? Could these sit for a week or so (long enough to become dinner guest or Christmas gifts)?
cakekick,
I did a similar recipe for Christmas gifts last year using a mix of nuts that included pecans and whole hazelnuts. No problems with the whole nuts. They also kept really well. I didn't eat the leftovers until about a month later and they were great (the excess spiciness seemed to have mellowed too).
I would be more wary of keeping walnuts around for too long as I find they get rancid really easily.
This sounds wonderful! I've taken to buying candied pecans from the bulk section at the grocery store as a treat, but it would be so much cheaper to make my own.
cakekick, I've done similiar recipes as holiday gifts the last 2 years and my favorite is whole pecans. Works well with whole almonds and walnuts also. Also, if you plan to mix nuts, I found it best to keep them separated while baking since the baking time varies slightly between nuts.
kind of a spinoff, but does anyone know how to make "honey roasted" almonds or peanuts? These are so hard to find (and so expensive when you do find them), that i've been wondering how to go about and make my own...
cakekick,
As others have said, whole almonds work great. Just make sure you buy raw ones (not already toasted).
The Naked Chef also has a good recipe for a spicy version. You can do however you like, though. He "fries" the almonds in a skillet with a bit of olive oil. Then, sprinkle them with whatever you like. Sea salt and red pepper flakes are great. Adding coriander is good, too.
Serve hot. Perfect company munchies. Go great with beer!
That looks amazingly good. I think I'll try it with some mixed nuts (I don't really like almonds), and maybe mix in some dried fruit after the nuts've cooled down.
Sanna, there's a recipe on here for honey-roasted peanuts, and I'm guessing it could work for almonds too:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/candy/recipe-diy-honey-roasted-peanuts-032709