A few years back I was traveling for business and stopped in Houston on my way home to spend a couple of days with my brother John and sister-in-law Janet. On our way out for a round of golf we stopped at a local barbeque place for lunch. As we were leaving a truck had pulled up selling fresh (raw)cracked and blown pecans – We ate close to 2lbs. that afternoon while golfing.
I started making these Sweet, Savory, Spicy Pecans last year. John had sent each of us (my brothers and sisters) a large bag of cracked and blown fresh pecans as a gift. I thought to myself, what the heck am I going to do with all of these pecans? So, like I do with most things, I googled ‘pecan recipes’ and up popped a ton of options. There were multiple recipes for sweet, sugar coated, candied, etc. to chose from. One caught my eye ‘Sweet, Spicy, Salty Candied Pecans (AKA “Crack Nuts”).’ It was a post on Once Upon a Chef – from Jenn Segal. The recipe sounded great and looked pretty easy so I gave it a shot. I will say that the name Crack Nuts is fitting as you will quickly become addicted to them. So, here we go…
Note: I was tempted to riddle this post with a few tasteful nut jokes and puns, but I thought better of it. OK, really Leigh told me to grow up.
Sweet, Savory, SpicyPecans
Servings: Makes 2 cups
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups pecans
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Parchment paper is the key to easy handling and quick clean up Did I mention I hate the clean up part of cooking?
In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, kosher salt and cayenne pepper.
Add the pecans to the sugar mixture, along with 4 teaspoons of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved into a sticky glaze. (If the mixture is still too powdery after stirring for a while, it’s okay to add a few drops of water — just don’t add too much!)
Transfer the pecans to the prepared baking sheet and arrange in a single layer. Do your best to make sure they are evenly spread out and the nuts are not touching each other. Scrape out every last bit of glaze from the bowl and drizzle over the nuts.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the pecans are crusty on top and caramelized and golden on the bottom. I find that 11 minutes works best and gives them a good crunch without burning them. Immediately slide the parchment off of the hot baking sheet and allow the pecans to cool completely on the countertop. Once cool, remove the pecans from the parchment, breaking apart any clusters if necessary, and store in an airtight container.
Dig in! Stop eating them if you can!