candied cranberry pecans

Candied nuts are a wonderful sweet treat any time of the year! I enjoy eating them straight off the baking sheet but they are equally delicious on baked goods or even fresh mixed green salads. A simple salad of mixed greens, blue cheese and French vinaigrette begs for the sweet crunchy candied pecan. When baking, candied pecans can be added to fudge, used as a topping for scones, or even folded into homemade ice cream. The uses for the candied pecan is unlimited!

Most candied pecans use a sugar melted to a specific temperature using a candy thermometer, but I find that any humidity turns the sugar grainy and turns the candied pecans into a grainy unpleasant mass. I recently stumbled upon a recipe that I adapted to my preferences. I added dried cranberries, a touch of cayenne pepper and kosher certified vanilla bean sugar from Beanilla.

I love these oven roasted candied pecans with dried cranberries; I hope you enjoy them also!

Candied Pecans with Dried Cranberries Recipe

Yields 2 cups
Adapted from: Simply Recipes

Candied Pecans Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1/4 teaspoon Tahitian vanilla extract
  • 8 oz pecans - about 2 cups
  • 1/8 cup dried cranberries, chopped
  • 1/2 cup vanilla sugar
  • ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°F.
Put vanilla sugar, dried cranberries, cinnamon, salt, cayenne, and ground nutmeg in a Ziploc bag, shake to mix.

Place egg, water, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until slightly foamy, add pecans and coat well. Scoop pecans out of bowl with a slotted spoon and place into the bag of sugar and spices.

Shake pecans until well coated.

Bake 30 minutes on a baking pan lined with silpat or lightly greased aluminum foil. 15 minutes into baking, mix the pecans with a fork. Let cool completely before serving.

Yields 2 cups.