The occasional recipe: sugared nuts

As I write this my house smells like holiday cooking. The sugary kind of cooking rather than the potato-pancake-frying kind. I tried a recipe my friend Paula gave me. It’s for sugared nuts, which make good munchies to have on hand, as well as fun little gifts. I put some of mine into small bags and tied them with ribbons as gifts for my neighbors. And if that’s sounding kind of Martha Stewart-ish, keep in mind that the recipe adheres to my usual ratio of easiness to delish-ness.

Here’s what you need:

nuts--about 2 lbs. I used raw pecan and walnut halves
2 egg whites
1 c. white sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. 5-spice powder

Preheat the oven to 275. (I wish I could find the little “degree” circle on my computer. Someone reading this must know.) Whirl the egg whites in a food processor and add all the other ingredients except for the nuts.

Put the nuts in a large bowl and pour the egg white mixture over them. Toss to coat the nuts well. Spread the nuts in a single layer over 3 cookie sheets. They should have enough room so that they’re not clumped together too much. And I covered the cookie sheets with parchment just to make the clean-up easier. Bake 55 minutes. Then lift them from the cookie sheets with a spatula while warm to separate any that are stuck together. I think using parchment makes this step easier, too.

That’s the whole thing. They’re really good and, as you can see, really easy. I doubled the recipe and my second batch just came out of the oven. Only little problem is that now I’m alone in the house with them. Uh-oh.