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My dad loves any type of nut; cashews, pecans, macadamias, he’ll pretty much nosh on anything you put in front of him, but almonds are probably his favorite. Every Valentine’s Day my mom would drive us across town to the local candy shop to pick up a pound of chocolate covered almonds. We would have them wrapped at the store in heinous foil wrapping paper and eagerly present them to him when he got home from work. In typical dad awesomeness, he always pretended as though he had no idea what was enclosed in the small foil wrapped box.
About 5 years ago, I was wondering through our local mall and noticed an enticing sugary aroma wafting through the air. Being a sugar freak, I followed the intriguing smell directly to a counter that was roasting and glazing all types of nuts perfectly packaged in cellophane cones. I just so happened to be headed back home that weekend, so I picked up three pack and tucked them away for my dad. As you may have guessed, these sugary almonds were his version of bliss.
This weekend, I thought I’d try my hand at making a version of these Candy Coated Almonds in my own kitchen. The process is really simple and as a little bonus, the sweet blend of vanilla and almonds will fill your house with an amazing scent. Trust me, after one whiff of the vanilla goodness, your family will be hanging out in the kitchen just waiting for these babies to cool down enough to start eating them.
Package these delectable candy coated nuts in small cellophane bags or serve them up in homemade parchment cones and you’ll have the perfect homemade gift for any nut lover! I added little felt hearts to my cones for a little Valentine’s Day flair. [/donotprint]
Bavarian Vanilla Almonds {Candied Nuts}
Ingredients:
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract if you are using regular granulated sugar instead of vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 pound almonds or pecans
3/4 cup of vanilla sugar (if you do have vanilla sugar, simply substitute regular granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons of Vanilla Fleur de Sel (if you do not have Vanilla Fleur de Sel simply substitute fine grain sea salt)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine egg white, vanilla extract and water. Beat mixture until frothy. Stir in almonds and mix to coat.
3. Gently combine sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt and stir into almond mixture, thoroughly coating all nuts.
4. Evenly spread nuts onto prepared baking sheet and place into oven.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. When cool, pack in an airtight jar. They will keep at room temperature for about 2 weeks.
Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
I prepared the nuts per recipe but used the fine sea salt. They were a little too salty. Next time I may cut down the amount of salt.
Feel free to adjust the salt to your liking. I hope you enjoyed them otherwise!
You can substitute 3/4 Cup of Baking Sucralose (Chlorinated Sugar – Zero Carbs!) instead of granulated sugar to make a ultra low carb version!
What a great idea, James! Thank you!
How many servings would you say this makes?
Hi, Laura! I would say it makes about 12 to 16 servings. I hope you enjoy them!
Side note: I used pecans because I can’t do almonds.
Pecans sound great!
These were divine. I cut down the sugar to 1/2 cup and bumped the vanilla up a little, and they barely cooled off before we were reaching into an empty bowl. I’m making two pounds today. Hopefully they will last longer.
I’m so glad you liked them, Elizabeth!
Do you use natural almonds or roasted almonds? Thanks.
Either will work fine. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
Making these now and I just snuck a taste… YUM! I added a half teaspoon of cayenne, it could handle a whole teaspoon for those that like a good kick of spice with thei r sweet! So good, thanks for posting!
This recipe looks amazing! Do you think it’d be possible to use this method on sliced almonds? I’m concerned that sliced almonds would break up into bits or burn before the sugar melts. Thanks!
I absolutely love the fact that you put in your recipes, if you do not have a particular ingredient, subsititutions…….I wish everyone did that. Kudos to you……