Spiced nuts make great holiday gifts but I usually make them for myself to put on salads.

Spiced nuts are easy to make and can be customized to suit your tastes.

Spiced Nuts
Ingredients:

6 cups of nuts, I prefer walnuts

3 egg whites

2 tbsp water

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tbsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 300.  In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and water until frothy.  Fold the nuts into the egg whites gently until they are completely coated.

Combine the sugar, salt, and spices and blend well.  Add it to the nuts, stirring gently, until it is mixed in well.  Spread the nuts onto two large greased cookie sheets.  Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes being sure to stir the nuts a couple of times while cooking.

Let the nuts cool completely before storing.  They will not be crisp when they first come out because of the egg whites but after they are completely cool they will be.  Store in an airtight container.

 

Coating the nuts with egg whites.

Coating the nuts with the spiced sugar.

Making them pretty if you’re generous enough to give any away.

Recipe Notes: If you haven’t worked with egg whites before then you may not know why you have to be so gentle with them: when you beat them they fill with tiny bubbles which give them loft but if you stir too roughly or too much the bubbles collapse.  In this recipe it isn’t as vital to maintain loft as it is in other recipes that use meringue like souffles, but it’s the gently cooked whites that give a special crunch to these nuts.  Feel free to play around with the spices- leave one out if you like (or all of them if you want candied nuts with no additional flavor).  If you know your oven runs hot, try setting it a little lower.  If you don’t like walnuts, like I’ve used here, use any kind of nut you like.