Monday, November 9, 2015

Roast pecans


A perfect holiday and party snack. Salty, crispy, addictive. A good gift, too.

My Aunt Yvonne used to make these. At her beautiful old house in Paarl, there is (was?) a pecan tree. And she would shell the nuts herself, and then roast them. I think her recipe is a little different - my cousin Kate says she uses butter.


This sounds too simple to be good, I know. Trust me.

1lb fresh pecans
4 tablespoons soy
2 tablespoons sugar

Heat the oven to 350'F/180'C

Combine nuts, soy and sugar in a  bowl. Toss the nuts to coat them as thoroughly as possible. Spread in a single layer on an oiled cookie tray (or two, if one is not big enough to hold them). Place the tray in the oven and roast them for 15-25 minutes. After 10 minutes check on them every five minutes, shaking the pan every time to turn them.

Once they are browned and the sugar and soy have caramelized, remove from the oven and let them cool. Shake the cooling pan/s every now and then, or pry the nuts loose with a spatula to stop them from sticking.

The magic: as they cool, they turn crunchy inside a wildly delicious thin caramel shell.

When completely cool, store them in glass jars. Or set them out with drinks and snacks.

They disappear very, very fast.

1 comment:

  1. That sounds delicious. I'll certainly add that to my Christmas munching. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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