Glazed Walnuts...and I finally feel like spring has arrived!!!

Reasons Why I Feel Like Spring Has Finally Arrived

1. 

I've been able to open my windows for two days in a row--here's the key--and the temperature inside my house didn't drop.

As opposed to those days when I'm just so desperate for fresh air that I open the windows and the heat kicks on.

2.  

My front yard is blooming.

3.  

The dry, dead winter grass has suddenly become a lush, green lawn.

4.  

I don't mind sitting outside at 6:30 a.m., with no need for a jacket, mindlessly watching Clyde while he amuses himself by pouncing on a tennis ball.  

Okay, enough with the small talk.  Let's get to the recipe of the day.  Glazed walnuts.  Or any kind of nut, whichever nut you prefer.  Or, as you are about to see, split the recipe and make several different types of glazed nuts at the same time.

Why buy the prepackaged glazed nuts when they are so very easy to make yourself?

Today's Playlist

• "Goodbye Earl"...Me First & The Gimme Gimmes
• "Ball and Chain"...Social Distortion
• "Animal"...Neon Trees
• "Troublemaker"...Weezer

Glazed Nuts

• 1 egg white
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 cups nuts
• salt, to taste (if using unsalted nuts you'll want to add salt)

optional: cinnamon (or use pumpkin pie spice!)

Gather your ingredients.

I decided to make 3 different types of nuts: walnuts, cashews and pecans.

And just to make it interesting, I decided to add some cinnamon to the pecans.

Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment.  Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Separate the egg white into a medium bowl.

If you are using 3 cups of one type of nut, make sure that the bowl is large enough to mix the nuts in.

If you're like me, and decide to go the multiple types of nuts route, you only need a bowl large enough to whisk the egg white in.  I'll divide the egg white into the individual types of nuts after I've whisked it.

Whisk the egg white until it's really foamy.

Add the nuts into the egg white and stir.

Or, in my case, I put a spoonful of the egg white into each of the types of nuts I was using.  If you are going this route, don't worry about dividing the egg perfectly.  Its only purpose is to bind the sugar glaze to the nuts, it doesn't have to be an exact amount.

Here are my bowls of nuts, all mixed up with the egg white.

Next, add in the white sugar (or divide it amongst the different types of nuts)...

...and the brown sugar.  And like I stated before, I am going to add cinnamon to the pecans.  A heaping 1/2 teaspoon should do it.  Mix to combine.

If you are using unsalted nuts, you should also add salt at this time.  I added about 1/2 teaspoon salt each to the walnuts and pecans.  The cashews were already salted.

Spread the nuts, in a single layer, onto your parchment-lined baking sheet.

It's important to line your baking sheets, because the glaze is really, really sticky.  You don't want to deal with the mess it will make on an unlined pan.

I baked mine on two pans.  It's easy enough to keep the different types of nuts separate on the same sheet.  This is not a runny mess, not at all.  I just wanted to keep the cinnamon nuts separate.  

Bake them in your preheated 300 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Here they are, when they were finished baking, all roasty-toasty and glazed.

They smell so good, you're going to be tempted to try one right away.  Take my advice and wait until they cool a bit.  Those nuts are hot, you don't want to get burned.

These are the cashews, I flipped them over so that you can see that they are sort of stuck together in one piece.

When they are completely cooled (about an hour), they break apart very easily.

 See?

They are so easy to make, you will never want to buy pre-packaged glazed nuts ever again.

Pinky swear!  You're going to love them.

Store them in a ziplock bag or other airtight container.

Enjoy!