Weather: 33, light rain turning the snow into slush
What I’m listening to: Paul Cardall, The Christmas Box and Christmas Hymns
Candied nuts are a Christmas tradition. There are many different nut and seasoning combinations out there, from sweet to spicy to savory. I wanted to use my beautiful farm-fresh California walnuts again, so I made a batch of these lovely coffee-flavored little buggers.
I’m up for anything involving coffee and it adds a great smokiness and richness to these nuts, not to mention a little caffeine. If you enjoy coffee, you’ll love these. They’re super easy – I had all the ingredients already on hand and they only took a total of twenty minutes from start to finish. Crunchy, salty-sweet, coffee-infused snacks in a jiffy…. and they’re just a tad addicting. They’ll keep for weeks and would make another delightful Christmas food-gift for the coffee-lovers in your life. In fact, I just gave a pretty little bag of these to our friends who came over to snowplow our driveway.
Coffee-Candied Walnuts
Adapted from Epicurious via Yummly
- 2/3c sugar
- 2T coffee, finely ground
- 1/2t cinnamon
- 1/4t salt
- 1 egg white
- 2c walnuts
- sea salt
Preheat oven to 325. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray foil with non-stick spray.
In a bowl stir together sugar, coffee grounds, cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl, beat egg white until frothy. Coat walnuts with egg white. Then, pour coated walnuts into the sugar/coffee mixture and stir until well-coated. Spread into a single layer on baking sheet.
Bake 5 minutes. Stir. Bake another 5 minutes. Walnuts should be dry (no longer moist from the egg white) when completely cooked. Sprinkle with sea salt. Cool and store in an airtight container until ready to eat.