Tis The Season - Candied Nuts Two Ways

Holiday tradition. As a child, I loved waking up Christmas morning and my brother and I would sit at the top of the stairs while my parents went down to make sure Santa came - aka start coffee. After they let us know he came, we would rush down stairs and see what Santa brought us. Santa’s gifts were usually the ‘bigger’ gifts and were never wrapped. Stockings were filled and off the mantel, usually lying next to Santa’s gifts. After playing with Santa’s gifts for a while, we would unwrap some more gifts from our parents. Additional time was always spent in the surrounding days with our extended family members. Lots and lots of food fed us.

What are your favorite family traditions? Did you open gift(s) on Christmas eve? Did Santa’s gifts come wrapped or unwrapped? Did you play a game with your family after gifts were opened? Did you leave Santa and his crew any snacks? Did you have a certain meal you always ate? Is religion part of your holiday?

As my brother and I have grown, our family traditions have as well. We still spend time with extended family members and now I have a new family that I am joining - both as a family and as a new tradition.When I got married, I learned not everyone did what we did. What? That’s absurd. All kidding aside, we are currently working on melding the two families' traditions and I can’t wait to start building our own traditions as our family grows. I appreciate the Christmas holiday much more than Thanksgiving. Not because I don’t have things to be thankful for around Thanksgiving, but I feel I get to be thankful for my family in a much more calm, spread out environment over Christmas. We usually turn the holiday into a multi day celebration and we get to spend adequate time with everyone we love.

In addition to my blood family and new in-law family, we have great friend family members - those we have grown up with and those we have just met in our college or working years. Sadly, a lot of them have moved away. Additionally, there is work family and now I am learning about neighbor family. While we don’t know many of our new neighbors yet, we have been invited to two events in our short two months of living here - missing them both due to prior obligations. I am sure there will be many more to come.

So what does that all mean to this blog? Lots of cooking and celebrating. I love to entertain, but lots don’t. And while I love to entertain, it is important to plan easy things so the holidays don’t turn to stress.

Today, I am sharing some easy candied nuts you can take as a gift for a gift exchange, send with your kids to give to their teacher, take as a hostess gift for a party you are invited to or set out at your own party. We love nuts, so this was an easy idea for me. We eat them in salads, on pasta, by the handful. We enjoy both savory and sweet varieties. Today we are using almonds and pecans, two of our favorites.

A basic candied nut is a mixture of water and sugar, making a simple syrup and then adding heat. You can use one of two different heat methods - oven or stove top. Today, I am making two sweet varieties - Honey Vanilla Pecans and Peppermint Mocha Almonds (because what is the holidays without something peppermint mocha - my favorite is creamer). Each one is made with one of the different methods. 

If you would like to take these as a holiday gift, trace a mason jar lid on your favorite wrapping paper. Cut to size and insert the paper in between the metal rim and lid. Add ribbon and/or a tag if you would like. The candied nuts gift would also be nice with your favorite block or spreadable cheese and a bottle of wine.

Enjoy and happy holidays to my blog family!

Honey Vanilla Pecans

Ingredients:
Pecans, 1 lb
Honey ½ c (I prefer raw organic)
Oil, 4 T
Vanilla extract, 3 tsp

Add honey and oil to stove top and mix over medium heat, stirring constantly to not burn. Once melted, add vanilla extract. 

Add nuts and stir to coat. Continue to stir every 45 seconds to a minute, for approximately 5 minutes.

Pour onto parchment paper and spread out as an even single layer. Let rest and harden, at least 15 minutes.

Better Bonus Tip: I bet adding a pinch of spice would make this a good sweet and savory balance.



Peppermint Mocha Almonds

Ingredients:
Almonds, 1 lb
Sugar ½  c
3 T chocolate powder (I use raw cacao powder)
Peppermint extract, 1 tsp
Egg white, 1
Water, 1 T

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir. 

Add almonds and toss to coat. 

Pour onto parchment paper and spread out as an even single layer. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. 

Better Bonus Tip: Feel free to substitute any type of nut in these recipes. Also, take the basic concepts and experiment with other mixings such as cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, or the simple syrup I mentioned above.

Other gift ideas:

• Herb salt with a personalized wine bottle (remove the labels and write on it with a paint pen) and your favorite fish or veggie recipe
• Infused lemon garlic oil with a loaf of bread and a bottle of balsamic vinegar
• Homemade granola already made or just add the ingredients to your favorite glass jar and include the recipe for making

Finally, today marks one week since the horrific massacre in Connecticut. I know my mind is flooded daily thinking about what these families are going through. They will never think of the holiday season the same. Their traditions are no more. Sadly, most of us get caught up in our daily lives that we forget to treasure each other until something of this magnitude occurs, reminding us life is precious. This holiday season consider making a pack to never take things for granted, as tomorrow is sadly not guaranteed to anyone. Hold your loved ones a little tighter and I wish Happy Holidays to you all!

~Ashley