Candied nuts are a wonderful treat to have on hand for parties, salads, snacking or gift giving. Autumn brings warm spices and flavors that we often only have at this time of year. Cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg are some of my favorite spices to bake with so it feels natural to want to include these spices into these candied nuts. My fellow blogger friend Chris from The Cafe Sucre Farine posted this recipe on her blog for walnuts, I do like candied walnuts but I had a huge bag of almonds and decided to give them a try. Besides using almonds instead of walnuts I added the spice cardamom to the nuts, I think the cardamom gave the flavor a floral note. We loved the candied apple pie spiced almonds and found them to be quite addicting, while taking photos I had more than my fair share. The crunchy sweet apple pie spiced almonds have you craving apple pie while eating these nuts. Eating the nuts straight is my favorite but I can see these showing up in a fruit salad or as an ice cream topping.
Candied Apple Pie Spiced Almonds
Ingredients:
4 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
3 cups of raw almonds
Directions:
Step 1: Turn oven to 325 F. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper, or foil, if using foil then spray with cooking spray.
Step 2: In medium skillet put all the ingredients in except the nuts. Turn heat to medium and let the mixture get bubbly stirring well.
Step 3: Add the nuts and cook stirring for 3-4 minutes until the nuts get lightly browned. Pour the hot nuts onto the prepared pan and spread out as evenly as possible. Put the pan into the oven for about 15-20 minutes stirring halfway through the cook time. When done take out of the oven let cool and put into airtight container.
Wow Suzanne-these candied almonds look so good in your photos!
I think a small bag or jar of these would make wonderful gifts for the holidays, the deep color of the almonds is striking 😉
LOVE the ideas of using almonds for this recipe. I think I might have to re-visit it 🙂 Your photos look awesome, it must have been the almonds you were nibbling on! Thanks for the link Suzanne.
Love candied almonds! The apple spice addition sounds wonderful!
These almonds look so addictive (in the best way!); love the apple pie spice!
Oh my gosh – I could eat a ton of these little delights! These are a MUST make. Love your cover photo!
I always have nuts in the house, but I need to do more things like this with them! The apple pie spice sounds perfect for fall!
I can eat that entire jar of almonds. We always have a healthy supply at home for my husband. I think I’ll set aside a portion to try your recipe. 🙂
Love these nuts my friend, apple pie makes almonds taste better for sure 😀
Cheers
CCU
Oh man, these almonds sound awesome!! The perfect snack!!
I tried a batch of these almonds, and tested them on my family. Gone in 24 hours. Then I made a batch for Thanksgiving – gone. Then I made 10 lbs of them (10 batches) for various parties and Christmas gifts. Responses were things like, “Addicting!”, “Delicious”, “Faboulous!”, “Oh, WOW”, and “Can you please send the recipe?”. They mailed well, traveled well, and if I needed them to last a while (yeah, right!) I bet they’d freeze well, too.
We played with adding different spices. Don’t bother. The recipe is perfect as-is. The only addition that got a positive response was a small amount of ground red pepper (I used 1/8 tsp, but I only like a little heat). Add only enough to add some heat, without smothering the already awesome flavor. I haven’t tried Chipotle pepper, but that could be promising.
Thanks for a providing me with a most successful holiday gift idea!
Thanks so much for letting me know how well the recipe turned out for you. I totally agree that little heat is great if that is what you like. I love the cardamom in these I really think it gives a little bit of a floral note. Happy 2014 to you Sharon!