Thursday, December 4, 2008

Best Hostess Gifts of the Season: Part 4



Hands down - this is my favorite food gift of the season! In fact, I just took a little bag to my friend Denise and she made me promise not to tell her family I have given them this year's stash - since she was going to devour them all by herself!
I quadruple the batch every time I make it and I usually end up making 2 batches that size before the holidays are over. I love the combination of salty and sweet, and I think I am partial to a candied nut without any other spices on them. Oh, cinnamon is fine - but give me the choice of this deliciously simple, sweet nut - and I'll pick it every time! I hope you love these as much as I do!



Grandma Kortright's Candied Nuts
2 pounds mixed nuts - NO PEANUTS
2 cups sugar
Dash of salt
4 egg whites
1/2 cup butter



Fold sugar and salt into beaten egg whites. Beat until stiff. Fold nuts into meringue. Melt butter in cookie sheet pan. Spread nut mixture over melted butter. Bake at 325 for 45 min. Stir every 10 minutes.



Folding nuts into meringue.



Turning nuts after the first 10 minutes.



Turning nuts after the second 10 minutes.



Turning nuts after the third 10 minutes.



This is a picture of what the nuts will look like when they are done! Even though you have to "Babysit" this recipe while it bakes - it is so worth it. When they are ready to be moved off the cookie sheet I spread some parchment or aluminum foil down on the counter and spread them out to cool. They need to cool for about 3 hours before you put them in a storage container. They appear soft when first out of the oven, but as the nuts cool they become crisp again.

Tune in tomorrow for the last installment of the Best Hostess Gifts of the Season!

8 comments:

Robin said...

I am loving these gift posts! I saw at a blog that someone did her nuts in the crock pot! Crazy cool! I wonder if these can be done that way but I am too afraid to try it and waste all those glorious nuts. I have had these from Rindy and they are delicious, the best I have ever had. Even better than mine. Sniffle.

Karen said...

These look wonderful - what a great hostess gift!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comments on my blog (the melting snowman cookie), and now I'm so glad I found yours!! So great.. somehow you read my mind as I have been searching for a good recipe for candied nuts to give. No. Really. Looking for exactly this.

Anonymous said...

This is a great recipe. Honestly, I was skeptical…eggs, sugar and a little salt!?!? I’ve tried many candied/spiced nut recipes, but this one is a keeper. Thanks for sharing!!

to2sassy said...

These look great I have done candied nuts that have beaten egg whites but never actual meringue. Is the no peanuts just a personal taste thing or is there another reason?

Rindy R said...

to2sassy - the no peanuts thing is just taste. To me it seems a little more classy. Check out BigRedKitchen.blogspot.com today. She made these nuts in her crockpot and they turned out great!

Anonymous said...

I just came over from Big Red Kitchen and I love this, how wonderful. I will try these!

Sandy said...

That sounds utterly delicious!