Spiced Mixed Nuts
One whisked egg white glues a sweet, smoky, cayenne-spiked coating to four cups of roasted salted nuts. A low oven dries it into a shell that crackles, and the jar keeps for three weeks.
Ingredients
Sweet Spice Mix
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper use 1/2 teaspoon for a mild batch
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1 1/2 teaspoons if the nuts are unsalted
For the Nuts
- 4 cups mixed roasted salted nuts almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts
- 1 large egg white or 2 tablespoons aquafaba
Instructions
Mix and Whisk
- First, heat the oven to 250 degrees F and line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper. The low temperature is not a suggestion, and the pan needs a rim.
- Next, stir the sugar, cinnamon, smoked paprika, mustard powder, cayenne, ginger and salt together in a small bowl until the color is even, with no streaks of red sitting on the surface.
Coat the Nuts
- Then whisk the egg white in a large bowl until it is frothy and opaque, roughly 30 seconds by hand. Do not whisk it to peaks, which carries too much water into the pan.
- After that, tip in the nuts and turn them until every piece is wet, then scatter the spice mix over them in three additions, tossing between each one. Spread them on the pan in a single layer with no piles.
Bake and Cool
- Bake for 45 minutes, stirring once with a spatula at the halfway mark so the pieces around the edge of the pan do not dry ahead of the middle.
- Finally, cool the pan completely on a rack for at least 30 minutes before touching the nuts. The coating sets as it cools, and moving it warm smears the shell and leaves it tacky.
Notes
Doneness: they are not crisp in the oven, only once cooled. At 40 minutes lift out three nuts, cool them on a cold plate for 2 minutes and bite one. If the coating bends rather than snaps, bake 5 minutes longer.
Raw nuts: add 10 minutes to the bake and raise the salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons, since nothing has been salted for you.
Heat: 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne is warm rather than fierce, and it strengthens over the first two days. Use 1/2 teaspoon for a mixed crowd.
Make-ahead: bake up to 3 weeks before you need them. Cool completely before sealing the jar, because warm nuts sweat and the shell turns tacky.
Storage: 3 weeks sealed at room temperature, 2 months refrigerated, 6 months frozen. Refresh a soft batch with 5 minutes at 250 degrees and a full cooling.
Nutrition values are an estimate.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 215kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 200mg | Potassium: 210mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g