Sugared and Spiced Pecans

   

     I must really be feeling in a bit nutty lately since this is my second post in a row featuring nuts!  Truthfully, I just love them at the holidays.  Often during the month of December I realize that I have really only eaten snack foods all day long and feel like if I have nuts mixed in there then I have at least eaten some protein.  This is great logic, right?  Right?  I am working towards a balanced diet, after all!

    One of the best things that has happened to me this year is that along with my friend Angela (of the Angela's Chili and Magic Mix Fame), I co-founded a new United Methodist Women's circle at our church.  If you aren't familiar with UMW, this organization of close to 1 million women has been busy for years spreading goodness and light.  I was a member of a circle in Atlanta that was filled with women who were truly making a difference not only in their own community but also around the world.  I had been feeling for awhile like it was time to find a circle in my own church but hadn't quite found one that worked with my schedule.  Angela had been feeling the same way so we decided to just try to start one that would work for not only us but hopefully for other women our age who were feeling the same way.  The first time we all met together there was a feeling of excitement and joy to have finally found one another.  

   Since that first meeting, we have spent one evening a month together and this group of women has become so very special to me.  I honestly feel like I have known these girls my whole life and I treasure every moment we spend together.  Our main goal was to ensure that this circle would be a "no guilt" space and while we love it best when we are all together, we never pressure any member to make every meeting.  We usually laugh together until we cry.  We support one another and have made it our mission to support other women and their children in a variety of different ways.  I can't imagine not having this group in my life now that we are together.  The members that have joined us since that first meeting have all fit perfectly into our circle and as my friend Lisa realized early on, these are the women I want to grow old with!

   For our December meeting,  I wanted to make something special for my Susanna Wesley girls so I turned to this delicious recipe for Sugared and Spiced Pecans.  The name is perfect because these friends are most certainly sugary and spicy!  When I started this blog and was looking for a name that wasn't taken, The Sugared and Spiced Kitchen just seemed perfect because not only can I not pick a favorite between baking and cooking, I like to think of myself as sugary and spicy all at the same time and it turns out that my best friends are the same way.

    I am also using these nuts as teacher gifts both at my daughters' schools and my own school and will probably whip up another batch this week because they are so easy to make and the yield is plentiful.

I feel certain you can find some very deserving recipients to pass them along to if you try the recipe!

    The original recipe can be found as Sugar Coated Pecans on allrecipes.com.  Since I rarely leave a recipe alone, here is my version! One of the big changes I made was to use my Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus.  Again, if you haven't ordered any yet, it's time to do so!  Since that has a bit of a citrus taste to it, I decided to up the flavor by adding in fresh orange peel.  You could certainly add more to the recipe but I didn't want it to be too overpowering.  The result was fabulous.  I also always double the original recipe (which called only for one pound of pecans and half the other ingredients) because it just makes sense to me to do so.  If you decide to just make one pound of pecans, simply use one egg white.  

Sugared and Spiced Pecans (click on title for a printable version)

3 egg whites

2 T. water

2 lb. pecan halves

2 C. white sugar

1 1/2 t. salt (I use Morton's table salt for this recipe)

1 t. cinnamon (again, the magic in mine was the Cinnamon Plus)

1 t. orange peel

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment, Reynold's Release Foil, or regular foil that has been very, very generously sprayed with non-stick spray.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites and water until they are frothy but not too stiff.  This will only take a minute or two.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and orange peel.

Fold the pecans into the egg mixture gently but very thoroughly.  Add the sugar mixture to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

Pour half the mixture on to each of the prepared baking sheets and place one on each rack of the oven.  

Bake for 1 hour making sure to stir well every 15 minutes and to rotate the pans each time you stir.

Remove the nuts from the oven and allow them to cool.  Be sure to stir them as they cool.