Candied Pecans

 Years ago, I used to work at Disney as a part-time Cast Member working in concessions at Cirque du Soleil at Downtown Disney. I loved it, but the thing that drove me crazy was smelling the candied nuts all day and not being able to eat them. I would make up for it by buying them about once a month, or even more often, when I would go play at the parks. I loved those nuts and the last few years while staying at home as a stay-at-home mom I have missed the opportunity to eat those nuts. Recently I decided to see if there was a way to make the nuts at home, and I recently found a recipe to do so!

I made a double batch, and learned one thing. The mixture goes from being not ready to overdone in the snap of your fingers, so you need to watch it closely as you are cooking. Half of our nuts ended up a little burnt (though they still tasted good), and the other half of the nuts were perfect. It was hard making sure we didn't eat them all in one sitting. (We had some restraint and didn't finish them until our second sitting.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Toast your nuts on a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes. I used pecans, but you can also use almonds or your other favorite nut.

Next mix your sugar, water, vanilla, and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to a boil. 

Then add your nuts and stir. 

Continue to cook over medium-high heat until the nuts are covered in the syrup and the syrup is all gone. This will be about ten minutes after the time that you put the nuts in the syrup. When they're done, it will be difficult to stir, but they won't be burnt. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat before they burn to spread them out on a lined cookie sheet to cool. 

Once cool, place the nuts in an air tight container to store. The nuts can be stored for up to one week at room temperature.

Candied Pecans

Ingredients:

2 cups of pecans (or almonds, or other nuts of your choice)

¾ cup white sugar

1/3 cup water

2 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts on cookie sheet and toast for 10-15 minutes.

2. Mix your sugar, water, vanilla, and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

3. Add nuts and stir to coat with the syrup. Continue to cook over medium-high heat until the syrup is all gone (about 10 minutes).

4. Remove pan from heat and spread nuts on a cookie sheet lined with foil or wax paper to cool.

5. Store nuts in tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 1 week.