Making Glazed Nuts

In line with the homemade snack topics we have covered in the past couple of weeks, we are highlighting a recent snack recipe favorite - glazed nuts. We recently made another batch of glazed nuts, tweaking the recipe a bit, and it was an even bigger hit than the first batch we made.

For the first batch of glazed nuts, we used the glazed pecan crockpot recipe we found at theseoldcookbooks.com. They turned out well. Like the instructions say, the nuts end up a little softer than making them in the oven, but they are very tasty. They also include a link to the oven baked version. If you want a very quick and easy way to make glazed nuts, I highly recommend their recipe.

Below I am going to outline our recently discovered favorite way to make glazed nuts, which requires a couple more steps than the original recipe mentioned above. Our family finds the extra steps well worth the time due to the flavor profile and texture of the finished product. Here are the steps we take to make our favorite version of glazed nuts.

1) First, we modify the recipe from theseoldcookbooks.com as follows: 

Ingredients

2 lb. pecans or mixed nuts (pecans and walnuts work well because the grooves hold the glaze well) 

2 egg whites

1 3/4 - 2 c. cane sugar 

2 t. cinnamon

2 t. salt

2) Then, we toast the nuts. Toasting them makes a huge difference in the finished product. The nuts themselves turn out crispier and much more flavorful. We take raw pecans, walnuts, and cashews in a ratio of about 2:2:1, put them on a baking sheet, and toast them at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. We stir them every 3 minutes to ensure they are toasted evenly. Be sure to keep an eye on the cashews (or any soft nut) as they will burn faster than the pecans and walnuts.

3) After toasting them, we allow them to cool. Once cooled, we then follow the original recipe by whipping the egg whites, stirring in the nuts until they are well coated, then folding in the sugar, cinnamon, and salt. You want to stir long enough to ensure that the dry ingredients mix in well and that the glaze coats the nuts evenly.

4) We then put the mixture in the crockpot on high for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent potential burning or sticking. At this point, the sugar is melted and the glaze is soaked into the crevices on the pecans and walnuts. 

5) Finally, we finish them off in the oven to harden the glaze. We put them on parchment paper on a baking sheet and bake them at 250 degrees for 35- 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. If you use only a pound of nuts, I recommend decreasing the baking time to 15-20 minutes.

6) Once baked, we allow the nuts to cool. We remove them from the parchment paper, breaking up any large chunks as we do so, and store the glazed nuts in air tight jars. 

We consume these rather quickly so we keep them in the cupboard. However, you can keep glazed nuts in the refrigerator or even in the freezer if you plan to store them for more than a week. Keeping nuts in the freezer helps keep the natural oils from turning rancid over time.