This recipe is for one of my favorite spiced nut treats. I’ve had many over the years, and have enjoyed them, but this is the one I like best. The original recipe suggests four types of nuts (2 c each) almonds, macadamias, cashews and walnuts. Over the years, I’ve substituted what I’ve had on hand, this time pistachios. But generally the smooth ones get a burnished glaze and crunch, the rough ones, get lots of the syrup and spices to adhere. This time: almonds, pistachios, walnuts and pecans.

The recipe also suggests heating all of the ingredients besides the nuts. I decided to try just mixing it all together – guess what, it works, and it’s one less pan to clean!

8 c mixed whole nuts
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c honey
2 T vegetable oil
2 T water
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 t sea salt
1/2 t cayenne pepper

This gets a good, thorough mixing, particularly if you’re not creating a syrup from the ingredients to pour over the top.

The nut mixture gets poured onto two parchment-lined (important!) rimmed half-sheet cookie sheets. Even them out, so that the nuts will get nice and toasted. They are baked in a 350 degree oven for a total of 20 minutes. At ten minutes, I switch rack locations in the oven and stir them so that they are evenly coated with the spice mixture, and return to the oven for the remaining 10 minutes.

Allow the nuts to cool on the rack. You can separate them a bit as they cool, but I usually just break them apart. These are wonderful just as a snack, but also make a great hostess gift or one for the holidays.