these spices have been nutted!

There are very few foods that cause me to completely lose control, but come on--we all have 'em. The latest addition to that short list is candied nuts. I could sit down with a bag of those and just eat. And eat.

And eat.

There are several cons to this type of behavior, of course, but one of the foremost is that those suckers are EXPENSIVE. Nuts alone are costly, but when they're glazed, the price becomes exorbitant. So, I'm learning to pace myself, not only for the good of my waistline, but also for the good of my wallet.

I first realized just how tasty candied nuts can be when I received a jar of them as a Christmas gift from my little brother and his little lady. They made the nuts themselves! After I had polished off that jar, I set out to buy some more, saw the price tag, and quickly changed my mind. Plan B was to make my own, but my first batch (made using a random recipe found online) just wasn't as good as that Christmas gift. Fortunately, my brother was happy to share his source for the recipe, and that is what I've posted below, with a few tweaks.

Crunchy but not hard, a little bit salty and with a perfect amount of sweetness, I think you'll find that this recipe delivers an exceptional and addictive snack.

Cinnamon Glazed Nuts
Adapted slightly from smitten kitchen
Ingredients:

• 1 egg white, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pound walnut halves, pecan pieces, cashews, almonds, or some combination thereof

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
In a large bowl, vigorously whip the egg white and water until frothy but not stiff, about a minute. Mix in the sugars, salt, and cinnamon, making sure there are no lumps. Add the walnuts and stir to coat evenly. Spread the sugared nuts in a single layer on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the oven and separate nuts as they cool. They may want to stick to the foil, but don't let them. When completely cool, pour the nuts into a bowl or plastic ziplock bag, breaking up any that are determined to stick together.