Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Karen
How was your weekend? Mine was occupied by a three-day CLE course (on the bright side, I’m done for the year!) The only saving grace from sitting through hours and hours of lecture was that I was able to buckle down and finish writing up some blog posts and recipes I have been working on, which include two giveaways I have planned for this month! Come back this week for one of them!
On a more exciting note, James was hosting a party for the resident applicants, and naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to help out with the foods. We made spam musubi, shoyu chicken skewers, mango coconut sticky rice, and lots of mai tai’s, of course. An hour before the party, I baked up a batch of macadamia nut shortbread cookies, which turned out pretty badly – the cookies expanded on the sheet pan as they were baking and all ended up being stuck together! That was disastrous to say the least. With that said, a good party menu planning strategy is to have several items that be made ahead and easily served on the twelfth hour just in case some things don’t turn out well.
The solution: Cinnamon Candied Almonds. Four ingredients, five minutes, no candy thermometer needed!
We originally planned on making these candied almonds for the New Year’s Eve party, and we had totally forgotten about them. I was under the impression that they required a decent amount of preparation, but I was completely mistaken!
I’ve three warnings for you. First, don’t eat the candied almonds when they are still hot because you can easily burn your tongue. How do I know? Hmmm…
Second, as the almonds are cooling down, don’t panic when they are not as crunchy as advertised. The cinnamon-sugar coating will become very crunchy when the almonds are completely cooled, just like the ones sold by the street vendors all over the city! And since I really like the salty-sweet combination, I will probably add some sea salt on top next time I make them.
Finally, make a big batch of these almonds because they are addicting and disappear rather quickly. You should also hide them in a safe place before the party so that the guests are able enjoy them. Just in case the host (singular…and it wasn’t me!) goes a little overboard on quality control.
Cinnamon Candied Almonds
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 cups whole roasted almonds
Instructions
- Combine sugar, water, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil.
- When the sugar has dissolved and the syrup begins to bubble, add the almonds and stir to coat evenly. Continuing stirring until all of the sugar has crystallized on the nuts.
- Pour the almonds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Separate almonds using forks.
- Allow to cool thoroughly before serving.
I love roasted nuts and this seems really good! I have a big bag of almonds at home, does it work if I double the recipe?
I find that small batches work better, because the candy coating gets distributed more evenly as you stir. I’ve never tried a big batch, but I think it should work if you use a larger pot and stir constantly and from bottom up to make sure the sugar syrup doesn’t pool on the bottom.
I love all things cinnamon and I thought this would be more involved, as well! Thanks for this recipe :)
I just made candied nuts like these for the first time a few weeks ago (http://sharedappetite.com/sweet-and-spiced-candied-nuts/) So addictive, right?! I never knew how easy they were, and you are so right… when they first came out of the oven I thought I did something wrong. Why aren’t they hard and crispy?! Haha, they crisp and crunch up when they cool… phew! :)
They look great! I’m going to use a mix of cashew and almonds (and cayenne pepper) next time. Pinning your recipe!
when do you add cinnamon? do you bake them?
This is a stovetop version so I don’t bake them. I add the cinnamon in the first step, with sugar and water. Thanks for pointing that out! I didn’t realize I had left it out in the instructions – just fixed it!