We’ve had a lot of pickle recipes lately, but you probably don’t want to live on pickles alone. Neither did the people at the very small luncheon we catered, so we made sure to have something a bit more snacky. We figured that, if we were running late setting out the food for lunch, people could munch on these nuts we placed on the table. We don’t know anyone who doesn’t like nuts (we really do, but we can’t understand it).
This recipe comes from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home. It’s very similar to another version we’ve made in the past that uses brown sugar as the sweetener in place of the honey. It’s nearly the same recipe; just dissolve 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in a teaspoon of water and use that in place of honey. Keep in mind, however, that you might not have to bake the pecans as long.
Finally, we knew we were going to be having a large variety of snacks for our luncheon, so we made one-third of the original recipe; that amount is reflected below.
Candied Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw pecan halves (140 g)
- 1 Tbs honey (19 g)
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
- Heat honey in a small saucepan until warm. Add nuts and a pinch of salt, stir until coated.
- Spread nuts on prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with remaining salt.
- Bake for about 2 hours, rotating baking sheet halfway through.
- Let cool, separating any nuts that stick together. Store in an airtight container.
Ingredient discussion:
The original recipe calls for clover honey, but we think any honey will work. Ideally, we like to use some sort of local honey; years ago, we had a great supplier, but, alas, that source is gone, so we end up buying our honey at the supermarket, instead.
Procedure in detail:
Preheat oven to 250°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. If you don’t have a silicone baking mat, use parchment. No parchment, either? In that case, you might want to try another recipe, or prepare for some scrubbing.
Warm honey. Place the honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When warm, add the nuts and a pinch of salt and stir to coat. Give everything a good stirring, as we found that it might seem as though the nuts are coated, but there are nooks and crannies that can hold more honey.
Spread nuts. Transfer the nuts to the prepared baking sheet and spread into a single layer. They’re sticky and will stick to the spoon, but do the best you can for right now.
Bake. Place in the oven and bake for 2 hours, rotating the sheet from front to back halfway through. We like to give the nuts a stir from time to time, as that will help expose all sides to the heat, baking on the honey evenly. It also gives us a visual check to see how the nuts are coming along. If they seem dry, it might be time to take them out of the oven.
Cool. Let the nuts cool completely, separating any that are sticking together. Once cool, place in an airtight container.
Another easy but good recipe. And, while it might be a bit late for this year, consider making these nuts for Christmas or New Year’s Eve (or any other holiday you celebrate), as they’re quite nice to munch. The only downside is that it seems as though they disappear in no time flat. We expect that’s why the original recipe was three times this size. Four stars.
