Serve these candied almonds with chocolate, cookies, and cheese as part of a dessert platter for a cocktail or dinner party. Add a few nuts to your ice cream.
Ingredients
- Six tablespoons brown sugar
- Three tablespoons cocoa powder
- One teaspoon ground cinnamon
- One teaspoon of kosher salt, plus more as needed
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- One teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Two tablespoons water
- 2 1/2 cups roasted pecan halves, almonds, or a combination of nuts
Directions
- Line the baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
- Stir until the brown sugar is well blended with cinnamon, water, salt, cayenne pepper, vanilla, and cocoa powder in a medium pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sauce bubbles, approximately 1 minute.
- Continue stirring until the nuts have been evenly coated in the sauce and the sugar caramelized (about 2 to 3 min). Don’t hurry this step, or the sugar will not harden, and the nuts may become sticky. Stir constantly to prevent the mixture from burning.
- Spread the candied nut mixture evenly on the baking sheet. Sprinkle some more salt over the nuts before they dry. Let the nuts cool until they become less sticky, and then break into pieces.
