Make My Day Camp: Candied Almonds

Friday, August 12, 2022

Candied Almonds

Made these candied almonds for a little hostess gift - I've never made them before and they turned out just like the warm ones I get at hockey games (or the mall). I'm not a huge nut lover in things, like baked goods or salads, but nibbling these sweet and salty almonds is hard to resist; and I wish I had a smell button so you could experience how great my kitchen smelled afterwards!

I actually just googled which is correct in the above sentence - smelled or smelt! Either works, fyi, but smelt is more used primarily in British english...fun fact hahaha.

Now you gotta make these almonds!

1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
Himalayan sea salt (flakes or coarse)

Instructions:

Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray - or use a silicon mat instead which is what I did. Set aside.

In a medium nonstick saucepan, combine water, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and heat on medium-high, Stir until sugar dissolves then bring the mixture to a boil.

Once it's boiling add the almonds and reduce the heat to medium. Stir frequently until the sugar crystallizes around the almonds, it took me about 10 minutes.

When the sugar crystallizes it's a little difficult to stir but keep at it. I was worried the nuts were going to burn so I stirred constantly. The few recipes I looked at said eventually the sugar will remelt and carmelize, with the liquid caramel coating the almonds. While it did eventually start to remelt for me, it really seemed like it was going to burn - so once I got the texture like my favorite stadium nuts (it's a hard and coarse texture, not smooth like candy coated) I removed them from the heat and poured the mixture out onto the prepared baking sheet. Separate the nuts while still warm so they aren't in clumps. Sprinkle with salt to taste.