Spiced Caramel Walnuts

I used walnuts, but it can work with pecans and almonds. I find peanuts have too strong of a flavour for this recipe.

Ingredients
1 flan container of walnuts halves (or pieces)
1 Cup of sugar
1/2 stick of butter (not half a block. Half a STICK. That would be 1/8 of a block.)
1/2 TSP nutmeg
1 TSP cinnamin
1 TSP seasalt or kosher salt

Instructions
I used a large skillet for this. Turn the heat up to medium and dump the walnuts in. Toast, stirring and tossing constantly, until some oils are released and they're crunchy, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.

In the same skillet, dump in the cup of sugar and salt. Cook until mixture is slightly bubbly and a light caramel brown. Turn the heat all the way down and stir in butter, cinnamin and nutmeg. When the whole mixture looks homogenous, stir in the walnuts and turn to coat. If you want a grittier sugar texture, you can stir in another 1/4 cup of sugar. Now you can either let the whole thing cool in the pan or pour it onto a square of waxed paper.

Makes a great party snack. For alternate versions, you can add maple butter or other spices. (I've even added crushed bits of ginseng in!) If you want to make poppycock, double the butter add some store-bought packages of pre-popped popcorn.

Comments

[Ginny]

Ok.....I've bought the popcorn to make homemade poppycock. I used to love this stuff! Thanks for the good idea. OH, and looking at your clam chowder comments, looks like your blog's made the big time!

Ginny