Nuts for Christmas

Going Nuts for Christmas

A perfect snack with festive drinks. Why choose between sweet or salty nuts when you can have them both, with the added bonus of delicious  spices.  This Christmas Nut Mix brings all of these flavours together in perfect harmony, and you can make them in 15 minutes or less.

At Christmas time we normally hunt for the nutcracker, which is either broken or worse still, lost forever, and this normally happens on the day you are serving your beautiful bag of nuts in their shells to a host of family and friends.  There’s always frantic digging around in THAT drawer in your kitchen that keeps everything that is hardly ever used, but you can’t throw away, because you may use something in there one day.   And sure as nuts, Christmas is the day you need that something, and its not there.  Well forget about that nutcracker, you won’t need one for these shelled raw nuts that you can toast in minutes and spice up to make your Christmas drinks more festive.

Christmas nuts

We all know that smell can affect a persons’s mood, and what better way to bring in the holiday spirit than with your home filled with the irresistible aroma of Christmas spices. I used Mild and Spicy Curry Powder, Cumin, Cinnamon and a touch of Cloves for the spices, and a small amount of sugar to give the sweet caramelized crunch to the nuts.

The spice combination is perfect with a total of 600g of nuts.  I have found that if you add more nuts there is not enough spice/sugar to coat them fully.  I would suggest making the nuts exactly as the recipe suggests, as a first attempt.  See how you like the combination, if you prefer them a tad sweeter then with your next batch modify the recipe.  Its easy to do – add more of the spices if you prefer, but I love how these amounts are not too overpowering, so you can still taste the nuts and not just a heap of sugar and spice.

Christmas nuts

Pinecones and cutlery

 

I hope your festive season is everything you wish for.

 

Sweet and Spicy nuts

 

 

 

4 from 2 votes
Sweet and Spicy nuts
Going Nuts for Christmas
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 
Ingredients
  • 200 g Red skinned peanuts
  • 200 g Almonds
  • 200 g Pecan Nuts
  • (Cashews and Macadamia nuts can be used to replace any of the above or added to them. Just remember if you add more nuts the spice mix may not be sufficient. This works well with a total of 600g of nuts)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 of ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Curry powder (I used Raj Mild & Spicy)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to moderate 180ºC / 360ºF.
  2. place almonds and pecans on a large baking tray and bake for 5 minutes or until golden and crisp.
  3. Remove from the oven and cool.
  4. Add peanuts.
  5. Combine sugar, salt and spices in a large bowl and mix well.
  6. Heat a large frying pan and add the nuts.
  7. Sprinkle spices over the nuts and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until golden. The sugar will melt and coat the nuts.
  8. Shake the pan often to ensure even cooking. If the nuts stick together, separate them with a wooden spoon.
  9. When cooked remove from the heat and spread evenly on a lightly greased baking tray to cool.
  10. Storage TIme: Up to 12 days in an airtight container.

 

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8 Comments

  • Reply Payne December 12, 2015 at 5:13 PM

    Crazy beautiful styling and yummy looking nuts too

  • Reply Leticia December 12, 2015 at 5:14 PM

    What!!!!! I gotta get me some ‘o these darn nuts

  • Reply kelly December 13, 2015 at 7:27 AM

    These look incredible

  • Reply ratna December 16, 2015 at 4:51 AM

    I really like the nutcracker story. So true. If I could only remember the ” very safe place”, when I need it eh? The nuts have my kind of spices. Awesome!

    • Reply Shades of Cinnamon December 16, 2015 at 8:50 AM

      Yes, mine is a treasure trove of utensils that surprises me every day with something I lost a few years ago. Thanks for your support Ratna I really appreciate it.

  • Reply Georgina December 16, 2015 at 12:01 PM

    Great mixture of spices Ev! I never thought of the idea of using curry powder with sugar, that’s something different to try next time I make spicy nuts. Gorgeous pictures using the “shades of gray”!

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