Friday, November 13, 2009

Homemade Food Gifts, Part Three

If you're thinking about making some Christmas food gifts this year, give these Sugar and Spice Nuts a try. They take only 15 minutes or so to make, and an hour or two to dry.

And voila! A lovely gift you can put in your cute little crazy quilt jars, or bag up to include in a care package for those you won't be seeing this Christmas.

Thank you to author and editor Susan R. Blaske Williams for this oh-so-addicting recipe.

SUGAR AND SPICE NUTS
3 c. pecans (or walnuts or mixed nuts)
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. water
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. vanilla

Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet (or grease cookie sheet) and bake nuts at 275 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sugar, water, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in saucepan and heat to boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in nuts to coat. With slotted spoon, remove nuts to wax paper, separating them as much as possible. Allow to dry for an hour or two, then package them up.

NOTE: If you're looking to make some homemade gifts this year, check out the Homemade Gift Carnival at Rachel's Cooking blog. And go visit Life as Mom, too, for more great food gift ideas.

16 Comments:

Anonymous Faith said...

I love candied nuts, they're good in so many things! I never thought of using them as gifts, that's a fantastic idea!

November 13, 2009 at 5:25 PM  
Blogger Libby@CookingWithLibby said...

I love these nuts. I have a similiar recipe that I use every year :)

November 13, 2009 at 5:33 PM  
Blogger Ingrid_3Bs said...

I'd like to think that those would make it as gifts but that would be lying. Those babies wouldn't last a day.

Thanks for the recipe. Its definitely added to my list.
~ingrid

November 13, 2009 at 6:29 PM  
Blogger SAH in Suburbia said...

Looks devine!!!!

November 13, 2009 at 6:49 PM  
Blogger Rainy Day Farm said...

Oh, good idea. Maybe I will make some of those for hubbies stocking!

November 13, 2009 at 7:53 PM  
Blogger Starr said...

LOVE these! They make the house smell so yummy. My grandma's recipe that I use is slightly different. You can find it here in the comments: http://www.lostinlaundry.com/2007/12/nutty-yummy-goodness.html

November 13, 2009 at 8:02 PM  
Blogger Carpool Queen said...

These are fun to sprinkle on salads....because making healthy things unhealthy is sport in our house.

November 14, 2009 at 7:45 AM  
Blogger teresa said...

ooooh, these would be a wonderful gift...for me!

November 14, 2009 at 4:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm going to try some of the nuts today, Lynn. Thank you. :)

November 15, 2009 at 9:30 AM  
Blogger Moore Minutes said...

Sugar and Spice nuts?? I LOVE that name, lol. How cute to label those for a gift too!

November 16, 2009 at 3:57 PM  
Blogger Karenpie said...

My mom used to make these at Christmas and - yes- give them away. We called them "Spiced Pecans". Catchy, no?

This year I decided to grow a brain and give Thanksgiving instead of Christmas goodies to all the neighbors. I've already made 15 mini-loaves of Pumpkin-Orange-Cranberry bread with another 10 to go. I'm going to put them in small, decorated brown paper bags with a tag that says "We're thankful you're our neighbors". Hmmmm, maybe I should blog about it? Ha!Ha!

November 16, 2009 at 7:45 PM  
Blogger Katy ~ said...

Yum yum yum yum yum. Do you have any idea how much I love candy coated nuts like this?! Oh, wait. I was supposed to share these? (pulling a sad face here) oh, okay. I will. Just not all of them, grins.

November 17, 2009 at 4:44 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Ingrid, these nuts aren't lasting all that long around here, either. I'm thinking the best strategy is to make them only one day before it's time to give them away.

Starr, your grandma's recipe sounds good. Very similar.

Carpool Queen, I would never have thought to use these on salads. What a great idea.

November 17, 2009 at 6:25 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

I hope you like them, Sandra (addhumorandfaith).

Karenpie, what a sweet gift you're giving to your neighbors. I bet they'll love it.

And Katy, you only have to share if you want to.

November 17, 2009 at 6:52 PM  
Anonymous Lynn said...

These look good. I made some spiced nuts this week too. They are great for the holidays.

December 3, 2009 at 6:14 PM  
Blogger Taste of Beirut said...

Love caramelized pecans and especially with a bit of spice!

December 4, 2009 at 5:55 AM  

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