Candied nuts
Posted: March 28, 2012 Filed under: Salad, Snacks/Appetizers 6 Comments »
If you’re a salad traditionalist, candied nuts may seem odd as a salad topping, but bear with me.
While they don’t mesh well with the classic garden salad, candied nuts are great to add crunch to any salad with a sweet note. Say, a salad with fruit, or even just greens with a sweet vinaigrette. Toss some candied nuts in and it will add enough protein to make your salad a meal. Incidentally, they are also delicious for snacking 
This is a very basic recipe-you can add all kinds of things to it to make it whatever you want.
Recipe:
2C nuts(walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, whatever nut you like) in large, forkable chunks(I used walnut halves)
1/2C sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Line a baking sheet with greased tinfoil or a silpat. set aside.
In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the sugar, nuts and salt. Cook, stirring continuously, til the sugar and butter have melted together and turned a lovely brown color. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla-it will bubble and hiss, but just stir it in.
Turn the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet and let them cool. Once they’ve cooled down, break them apart with your hands and store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Makes 2 cups of candied nuts
Variations:
To the standard recipe, you can add all kinds of spices. It’s a great recipe to experiment with, but here are some idea
-a teaspoon of smoked paprika
-A pinch of cayenne if you like things spicy
-a quarter teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon and a pinch of cloves
-a teaspoon of chinese 5 spice powder
-a teaspoon of garam masala, toasted in the skillet before you add the butter
Be imaginative My favorite variation is smoked paprika, cayenne and cinnamon. It’s great with mangoes, peaches, and poppyseed dressing!
Yay candied nuts! Have you ever had candied pecans in an endive salad? OH MAN. There’s a Veganomicon recipe with a salad of those plus either peaches or pears–I forget which was my variation, but they’re both really good!
Yes! I had the most amazing salad at a restaurant, endive with pear and blue cheese and candied nuts. It was the best ever. I’m still trying to recreate the vinaigrette they used…
I’m a MAJOR fan of candied nuts in salads…in my opinion, they’re the best part! Definitely need to try these!
They’re a great quick candied nut
But for me, he holy grail of candied nuts are the ones on the spring green and goat cheese salad at Uno’s Chicago Grill(Really, I do have better taste than chain restaurants, but it’s where my knitting group meets and they do have amazing candied nuts)
I like candied nuts in salads. Just some mesclun greens, dried cranberries, blue cheese and candied nuts – great combination!
Candied nuts and blue cheese, yum!