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I made this simple recipe en mass last week as gifts for my husband’s co-workers. We adore them so I wanted something they’d love without killing myself to get it done. I got requests for more nuts the same day, so I made another big batch and sent it off with Joe the next morning.
Though this would have been a great mid-December post for you to give as gifts, I think you can whip this up in time for your New Year’s Parties and have a delicious treat for your guests to snack on. It would also make the perfect hostess gift any time of year.
The base recipe for this comes from Elana’s Pantry. I’ve added my own spices and some of my own tricks to get the nuts just the way I want them.
Almonds don’t have the ridges and crevices that walnuts and pecans do, so my recipe has two separate instructions for the them. I found that almonds take 3 – 5 minutes longer to get nice and crunchy.
If you have granite counter tops, let the nuts cool on heavy duty aluminum foil there. The stone will pull the heat from the nuts quickly. They do stick together a little when you pack them in a jar. It’s just the nature of the ingredients.
A note about the oil: You want it to be tasteless and fresh. It is a major player in the overall flavor and if you’re oil is rancid, your nuts will taste rancid. I haven’t tried coconut oil but I bet it would make a fabulous tropical flavored nut.
An equally yummy variation is to use 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder instead of the cinnamon and cayenne. If you still have squash seeds lying around like me, you can roast those, too.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of almonds, pecans, or walnuts – roast each type of nut individually
- 2 tablespoons agave
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil or canola oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons good quality cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
Instructions
- Place a rack in the middle of your oven. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place nuts in a large bowl. When you roast the nuts, roast each variety in separate glass or ceramic baking dishes as their roasting times vary slightly. You can put two dishes of nuts in the oven at once so long as they fit on the same middle rack. If the nuts are too close to the heating element they’ll burn.
- Combine agave, oil, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne powder in a glass measuring cup. Pour mixture over nuts and toss to coat completely. Place nuts in a glass baking dish in a single layer. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, stirring after 6 minutes. Test for doneness at 12 minutes. Nuts will still be soft when done and will get crisp as they cool.
- Let nuts cool in glass dish for a few minutes. Stir to toss nuts in any remaining agave mix on the bottom of the pan. Place on heavy duty aluminum foil to cool completely, separating nuts as much as possible so they don’t dry in clumps.
- For almonds: these take several more minutes to cook. Once cooked, allow to cool in pan, tossing in agave mix. Since the almonds have no ridges to soak up the flavoring, you may need to add a little salt, cinnamon, or cayenne. Taste the nuts and adjust the seasoning as needed. Once they’ve cooled and have nice globs of spicy cinnamon agave on them, move them to heavy duty aluminum foil to cool completely.
- Store in mason jars for optimal freshness.
Notes
Variation: Use 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder in place of the cinnamon and cayenne.
Enjoy!
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Lauren
posted on December 29, 2009 at 9:24 pm
A friend recently gave us some roasted almonds, and I’m addicted! Worst of all, they’re almost gone – these look like a great solution to that craving =D.
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Sandy Gillett
posted on December 29, 2009 at 9:45 pm
This sounds like it is everything you say it is. Quick, flavorful, and special enough for gifts. Thank you. Blessings for the New Year!
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Alta (Tasty Eats At Home)
posted on December 30, 2009 at 7:41 am
I love roasted “candied” nuts. I was just remarking last night to my husband about how I should make some more. I’ve made Elana’s nuts – pretty much as written – and I loved them. I also love your variations!
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Amy Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 9:07 am
@Alta (Tasty Eats At Home), I love the curry powder, too. It’s fabulous. I actually just made another batch but used dried squash seeds and curry powder. Yum!
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Alexa
posted on December 30, 2009 at 8:57 am
I think I’ll have to make a batch to share with my friends. What a nice way to dress up a healthy snack!
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Emily Ziegler
posted on December 30, 2009 at 9:28 am
What a good “clean” recipe! Thanks so much for sharing!!
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barbara
posted on December 30, 2009 at 11:58 am
Amy, did you start with raw nuts? thanks, Barbara
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Amy Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
@barbara, Yes, I started with raw nuts.
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Fayinagirl
posted on December 30, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Great recipe. Adding the ingredients to my shopping list. =)
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My Man's Belly
posted on December 30, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I did something similar in my husband’s office Christmas cheer plate. I used cocoa, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt and chipotle powder.
I think they like the nuts because they’re a nice break from all the sweets.
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Amy Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 7:43 am
@My Man’s Belly, I have to agree there…they can snack on the nuts without the sugar crash later.
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Linda
posted on December 31, 2009 at 8:08 am
I modified my recipe this year and used agave instead of egg white. I still used a little sugar though. The agave gave the nuts a nice clear glaze. Everyone loved them. I’ve not made spicy ones because we’re not fans of spicy, but I should do some for gifts.
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Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen
posted on December 31, 2009 at 10:24 am
Oh man, these look good! And I was going to suggest coconut oil! It is so good -and would be really yummy with these nuts!
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gfe--gluten free easily
posted on January 2, 2010 at 11:48 am
Can’t wait to try this some time soon, Amy. I made a snack mix for Christmas that omitted the cereal (yippee on that), but still included gf pretzels. It was a little too heavy for my taste. I just received some grapeseed oil as a gift, so I’ll definitely use that. And, of course, I have the TT coconut oil I can try, too.
Thanks so much!
Shirley
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Mike
posted on September 26, 2010 at 10:43 am
Hi. I appreciate anyone trying to help others eat sensibly. I also realize that you carefully used the word “refined” sugars. The only thing here is that there are people who would assume that being as your site says sugar-free, that is it a sugar free recipe. Agave nectar is not sugar free. It’s just a different sugar. It actually has about 15 grams of sugar to a tablespoon of agave. That can cause all kinds of havoc to someone who is diabetic and thinks that they are doing something good. I love the recipe but I’ll be substituting Stevia for the agave.
Just thought your readers might like to know.
Keep up the good work.
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kheisty
posted on August 11, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Thank you for having a recipe with agave, so difficult to find them without stevia or sugar. I am planning to do some cocoa spice roasted and chai spiced almonds. The curry idea is intriguing. They really are the best work snack for me and mixing up the spices keeps it fun.
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Ashley Gotschall
posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:38 pm
I just made them with brown rice syrup instead of agave…very tasty! Thanks so much for the recipe!
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Amy Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 9:43 pm
@Ashley Gotschall, Thanks so much for sharing your substitution!
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Will
posted on August 6, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Agave = Sugar… just saying.
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Amy Reply:
August 9th, 2012 at 10:21 pm
@Will, You’re right. There is sugar in agave. There’s also sugar in mangoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes. I focus on refined sugar-free recipes – I can’t eat cane sugar products but most unrefined sugars and sweeteners don’t cause any problems for me.
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gellerman55
posted on January 6, 2013 at 2:44 pm
I need to speak up here about various sugars and diabetes.
My mom was a Type II diabetic for 14 years before I took over her care. She controlled her blood sugar levels with gymnema sylvestris as she was a naturopath. As she aged into her 80′s, we had to supplement the gymnema with a very low dose of glimeperide. Of course, we stuck to a low carb/correct fat diet and checked her blood every morning.
One day a friend who was on the Gershon diet introduced us to agave, saying that it would reduce Mom’s bgl. I simply did not believe that. Fructose is still a sugar, I argued. He challenged me to test it. So for three days she took only table sugar. For the next three days she took only Splenda. For the next three days she took only raw honey. For the last three days she took only agave. We tested her in the morning and after her lunch and were careful to try to keep the quantities of sugar the same in each case, though to be fair, we had to add a touch extra agave because it was not as sweet.
Splenda raised her bgl the most, by far. Table sugar raised her bgl second most. Raw honey raised her bgl the least. And agave LOWERED her blood sugar. If I had not done the test, I would never have believed it.
When she made it to her 90′s, we added coconut oil to her diet for her dementia (I’ll attach a link, if you are interested in that side story) and on the coconut oil, her bgl went down so low, we had to discontinue first the glimeperide and later, the gymnema. Her bgls ended up perfect and her lipid profile, said her MD, was that of a young woman.
A word of caution, however, if you are going to try coconut oil…if you tend to have loose bowels, increase your intake Very Slowly. We went too fast on Mom – a mistake we regretted.
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