Peppercorn Press

At Christmas, an employee and good friend of ours made us a gift basket filled with many great small gifts, including fantastic candied pecans.  Today she brought us another bag full and gave us the recipe as a gift as well.  Though we were introduced to them over the holidays, these would be great any time.  She made hers with only pecans and they were fabulous, but as you will see, the original recipe calls for a mix of nuts.  They are one of those munchies that once you start its difficult to stop until they are all gone.   Try them and you will see for yourself.

Sweet and Spicy Mixed Nuts

Ingredients

¾ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

6 tablespoons water

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice*

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups pecan halves

2 cups whole natural cashews

2 cups walnut halves

*Chinese five-spice is a blend of ground anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and ginger.  
It is available in the spice section of better supermarkets.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two rimmed baking sheets such as large jelly roll pans.  Melt ¾ cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  As Sugar, water, salt, and spices.  Stir until the sugar dissolves.  Add all the nuts.  Stirring constantly, cook until the liquid thickens and coats the nuts. 

Divide the nuts and the syrup equally between the two baking sheets, spreading them into a single layer.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes stirring the nuts every 5 minutes until the glaze is golden and crisp.  Cool nuts on baking sheets.  Store in an airtight container when cool.