I love candied nuts but the ones in the store and restaurants are super sweet and not what I typically want to put into my body all the time. Candied pecans from the store tend to be more candy than pecan. Homemade candied pecans are perfect as a dessert or crumbled into salad. Yum.

Good Enough Candied Pecans

I got the following recipe from my mom’s friend, but realized that I could do the shortcut way and it was good enough: not the most beautiful but has just enough sugar that sticks to the nuts that it tastes DELICIOUS. I’ve done this with just a few nuts and just a sprinkling of sugar, stirred around on the stove in a pan on low heat, until the sugar melts onto the nuts. Spread on to foil or parchment paper afterwards, and it’s done. But the following version is perfect for holiday gift giving and looks much nicer. And very lightly sweet.

My Mom’s Friend’s Candied Pecans

My mom’s friend makes the best slightly sweetened pecans. Similar to Trader Joe’s Candied Pecans: https://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Candied-Pecans/dp/B0087O9NLI

Ingredients

• 1 pound Pecans
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Boil pecans for 1 minute, then drain water
2. Pour in sugar, stir while it’s still hot for about 30 seconds until the sugar is dissolved, about 30 seconds.
3. Smear a baking tray with a little oil and spread the pecans evenly on to the tray
4. Roast for 46-48 minutes at 275 degrees
5. Leave pecans in the oven for several hours after finished until very crunchy and dry.
   optional: salt, vanilla

* Stir the pecans once during baking and again after oven is off.