Monday 5 December 2011

'Tis the Season

During this time of year, with the holidays fast approaching it's a good idea to have some party food ideas that don't take long to put together. Friends and family tend to stop by with only a moments notice and stay for a drink or two, and I always like to have something to serve them when they do. Not only that, but it's the season of parties and whether you're hosting or attending them, it's always good to have a plate of something delicious to take with you!

During December, I'm going to be posting lots of wonderful recipes which are perfect for the holiday season.

Starting with these: Candied Nuts! They're perfect as a last minute thing to throw together while your guests are on their way over. Just four simple ingredients which you'll probably have in your cupboards anyway, and they take about 10 minutes to make!

party food, last minute, easy, nuts, candied nuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, vegan, vegetarian

Ingredients:

1 cup of whole nuts - any kind you like!
Knob of butter or margarine

¼ cup sugar
Splash of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof/parchment paper
2.. Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. You don't need a lot of butter, just a little and you could even omit it completely if you wanted.
3.. Add nuts and sugar.
4. Stir to coat the nuts in sugar, the sugar should start to melt and turn a light brown colour. Keep stirring to coat fairly evenly.
5. Add splash of vanilla and stir. The vanilla will cause the mixture to sizzle up but that's fine.
5. Tip out onto prepared baking tray. Try to spread them evenly so they don't stick together too much.
6. Leave to cool, then break up any that have still managed to stick together, and serve!

Note: These are especially good while they're still slightly warm, and you might want to double or even treble the recipe depending on how many guests you're having as they're so more-ish!

4 comments:

Nina Lourie said...

I LOVE these. Whole-hearted +1 for this recipe.

Also, last time my friends and I made them, we stuck edible glitter on them too...and it was magical. I totally recommend glittery candied nuts. Actually edible glitter kind of holidays-up almost anything, but this was a particularly genius touch I thought.

Emma @ Bake Sew Grow said...

Glitter on them!! What an amazing idea :D

Nina Lourie said...

Now here's the real question; how hard is it for you to find edible glitter in the UK? I have fond memories of some baking supplies from when I lived there, but a complete lack of others (like peanut butter chips).

I ask because I found your blog last year from Holiday Wishes and have enjoyed it so much over the past year, that when I saw your list again this year I was thinking about sending you some chips, so I could send other things too if you wanted! I'm Supertailz over there.

Chrysta @ LiveAndLoveWork.com said...

Wow, I can't believe how easy this is! I'm going to have to try it for myself.

I was planning on baking some treats and sending to co-workers out-of-state. I may just include some candied nuts for those who aren't too keen on sweets.

While the nuts have sugar, they are, at least in my mind, an alternative to cookies, cakes & pies. At least the nuts have some nutritional value! Right?

Chrysta

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