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Friday, February 8, 2013

Sweet & Spicy Nuts

Irene, Sandy and now Nemo! Hurricanes, floods, blizzards - you name it, we've seen it in the past couple of years! Very soon, we'll be pros at natural disasters - definitely not something I would have voluntarily asked for my list of achievements! As I am writing this the blizzard's going pretty strong!

By the way, who came up with Nemo as the name. I mean I love Nemo but no way would I associate anything so harsh with something so sweet - not even a furious Nemo :)

Well, whatever the name, I just hope everyone stays safe and mother nature decides we have been subjected to enough of her ire!

Schools had an early closing today, so kiddo & I were safe home by 1 in the after noon, but DH reached home only after the drama started! He said the snow was stinging his face as he walked home from the station, what with the winds howling away!

With all this talk of lousy weather, I had to make something take my mind off it. Well, since everyone was home comparatively early, decided to make something for the evening munchies. My kiddo insisted that he wanted only cookies, so I thought why not make something else for us adults.

Amongst my earliest memories of this city that I call my home now is one of going out to NYC, just roaming the streets with my then new husband, in the blustery cold, munching on honey roasted nuts from the street vendors and absorbing the sights and sounds around me... I have often wondered if I could make those honey roasted nuts at home, but never tried it. Well, with this uneasy weather outside, I thought why not recreate the snack that reminds of something good that I enjoyed during the cold winters gone by.

The little one is allergic to nuts, and since he wasn't in a mood for anything but his "jam bikkis and milk" for evening snack, I decided to try my hand at this slow cooker sweet and spicy nuts recipe that I had come across a while back while browsing the net. I forget what website it was or what exactly they used to make it - but do remember the use of cinnamon and cayenne pepper along with honey and maple syrup.

I decided to tweak it to suit my taste. Sure is a keeper - not too much effort required, just dump everything in to the crock pot and stir every now and then! I used Kashmiri red chilli powder for that kick of spice and since I did not have any maple syrup on hand, I used some pancake syrup along with brown sugar. Now, for me, cinnamon always goes hand in hand with nutmeg and I also added a pinch of Jamaican All Spice.

The end result was something both hubby and me loved, but the next time, I am going to take my better half's suggestion and add a hint of dry ginger powder - it would just take things up a notch flavor wise...

Preparation & Cooking: 2 hours         Serves:2

Ingredients:
Almonds - ¼ cup
Pecans - ¼ cup
Cashews - ¼ cup
Walnuts - ¼ cup
Pumpkin Seeds - 2 tablespoons
Kashmiri Chilli Powder - ½ teaspoon
Cinnamon - ½ teaspoon
Nutmeg - a pinch
Jamaican Allspice - a pinch
Brown Sugar - 2 tablespoons
Honey - 2 teaspoons
Pancake Syrup - 2 teaspoons
Salt - a pinch
Unsalted Butter - 1 tablespoon
Cooking Spray

Method:
  1. Grease the crockpot with cooking spray.
  2. Add all the ingredients to the crockpot, mix well so that all the nuts are coated evenly with the spices.

  3. Cover and cook on high for about an hour and a half, stirring every 15-20 minutes.

  4. Spread everything evenly on a parchment paper to cool down, about 20 minutes or so.


  5. Serve with your favorite beverage.

Sending this across to
and
as well as Cooking With Love - Spouse event
and the "Lets Cook/Bake For Valentine" event.

17 comments:

  1. Delicious spicy nut Priya, love spice blend you used.

    Stay safe hope Nemo will be mild while passing through your space.

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  2. Yum! Love the honey roasted nuts from streets of NYC...gotta try this recipe!

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  3. These look very delicious love the spices added.

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  4. Wow nuts looks very delicious and tempting. Will try this soon.

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  5. Looks so addictive..Love the spices you added..

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  6. simply wow! love it

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  7. simply wow. love the blog & recipes.

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  8. Yummy looking nuts. Must have grabbed handful during these storms.. :)

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