Spiced Walnuts

Okay, confession time: as I am about to present it to you, this recipe is not actually kid-friendly. But, just leave out the spicier seasonings, and you will have something that should more rightly be called candied walnuts–and those are ridiculously kid-friendly, just as the new name implies. They’re just like… well, candy. But I’m still showing you the spices part of the recipe, because they are so amazingly tasty to the adult palette. Make half the batch for the kids and half for the grownups, if you want. I originally got this recipe from a friend this last Christmas, who told me his wife makes them every year. I am not one for standing on tradition, so I threw the “holiday” designation out the window and have made them 3 or 4 times since then. They are that good.

First, preheat the oven to 325, and put a pot of water on the stove. While that works itself up to boiling temperature, mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 1/2 Tablespoons of canola oil in a large bowl.

Stir well, until it looks like fluffy snow. Or at least what I imagine snow would look like, since I live in Texas and we don’t have that crazy Yankee stuff down here.

When the water has a good rolling boil going, pour in 1 pound of shelled walnuts and blanch them for one minute. Why not just say “boil” them? Well (it has been explained to me,) boiling implies cooking until something is done, whereas blanching implies only a brief boiling, often only meant to clean the food rather than cooking it. And you’ll soon see that’s what we’re doing here, as your water turns into a nasty mud of walnutty stuff.

Drain the walnuts. They should come out clean, but if you feel you must rinse them, make sure you only use very hot water, because we want them to stay nice and hot when we dump them into the bowl of sugar.

Mix them gently until all the nuts are nice and coated, and there are no large clumps of sugar left. Then let them sit there in the bowl for about ten minutes. As they cool, the sugar will sort of gelatinize in place.

While you’re waiting, you can get your bowl of spices ready. If you’re making this with some-but-not-all of the spices, you’ll just be a little faster than the rest of us. If you’re making this with no extra spices at all, well… go watch TV for a few minutes, I guess. Or pop your head out of the kitchen and make sure none of the kids are maiming each other, that’s always a good idea too.

I use McCormick spices whenever possible, because while not all of their spices are gluten-free, most are, and they have a company policy of always clearly labelling the jar if any wheat flours are included. (But that still means you should always double-check your jars!)

Clockwise from the top, that’s 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, and 1/2 tsp chili powder. The cumin is the bulk of the content, obviously, so if you’re eliminating that one you might want to ease up a bit on whatever you do keep, since you’re going to end up with a pretty different balance of flavors.

Mix everything together thoroughly. Feel free to draw little patterns in your spices if you’ve got extra time. I won’t tell if you won’t.

Set your bowl of spices aside for now (or turn off the TV, or come back from threatening your children with indentured servitude,) and dump the sugary walnuts onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Man, I sure use the word “dump” a lot in my cooking. A relationship counselor would probably say that indicates something about my subconcious feelings towards it, and suggest I use less judgmental language.

Spread it all out into a single layer. This is important to keep the little buggers from sticking to each other.

You’re going to bake them in the 325-degree oven for a total of 30 minutes, but you’ve got to stir and flip them frequently so you don’t end up with a single carmelized sheet of nuts. I usually cook them for 10 minutes, stir; 10 minutes, stir; 5 minutes, stir; and then a final 5 minutes.

Looking good!

Now, don’t try this if you buy a thinner brand of foil that tears easily, or you will end up with a huge mess. But one way or another, move the nuts into the bowl of spices you prepared earlier.

You want to do this while the nuts are still hot, so the spices will bond to them better. Keep tossing them gently until they’re evenly coated and there’s no residual powder at the bottom of the bowl.

Then lay them out on a fresh piece of foil to cool completely. Even if you’re making these without the spices, you’re still going to want to use a clean sheet of foil, because the old one is going to be all crusty and sticky with sugar. When they’re cool, just store them in an airtight container and they’ll keep indefinitely–or until you discover someone’s gone and eaten them all.

Happy Eating!

Spiced Walnuts

1 lb. walnuts (about 4 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 TBS canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp chili powder