Nuts about Christmas Nuts

It’s that time of year again, Christmas! The time of snow, of hot chocolate, of woolly hats and of fires. I always enjoy this time as I can sit inside and look out the window, wrapped in a blanket and think “I am so glad I don’t have to go out in that cold weather”. Christmas or the holidays, for those of you who do not celebrate Christmas, is still a good time to give gifts to people and what better gift than homemade treats! The main benefit of food based gifts is often you will get to enjoy them as well.

Every year I always make these sweet, salty, spiced nuts for my family as gifts. They are super easy to make and they can be enjoyed by everyone. You can use any nuts that you have available and any spices that you have and the taste can be altered to meet your own palate. If you like spicy, then make them spicy, if you like them sweeter then add more sugar and have a sweet treat.

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday and have a good start to your new year.

 

Time: 40 minutes

 

Ingredients

1 egg white

250 grams of cashew nuts

250g almonds

1 tsp salt

50g sugar

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

½ ground ginger

½ ground cinnamon

½ ground cardamom

 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 140 C
2. Separate an egg and whisk the whites until they form a foam.
3. Add the sugar, salt and spices to the whites and mix well.
4. Add all of the nuts and mix up using either your hands or a large spoon until all of the nuts have an even coating.
5. Place baking paper down on a large tray and spread the nuts out evenly.
6. Put into the oven for 30 minutes, after 15 minutes it is recommended to give the nuts a stir as this will break them up a bit and allow them to dry more.
7. When the 30 minutes are up, turn off the oven and leave the nuts in the oven as it cools, the nuts will continue to dry.
8. Remove and break up the nuts and place them in jars or bag and give to family and friends as homemade gifts.

 

 

I wish to apologise for not posting for the last few weeks. I have been dealing with university deadlines and also a cold which resulted in my losing my voice. I shall resume my posting schedule very soon I hope when life is less hectic.