Nutty about Nuts: Sweet and Spicy Mixed Roasted Nuts

Nuts are a Christmas favourite but can be a little bland and boring year on year. So we thought we would treat you to a super easy recipe to jazz up those nuts and have everyone talking at your Christmas soiree! Sweet and Spicy Mixed Roasted Nuts: perfect as an appetiser, starter or snack whilst entertaining.

This recipe is going to tingle your taste buds in every respect - savoury, salty, spicy and sweet! And the best thing? You can tweak it to your own preferred taste as well as use your favourite nuts – leave out those you’re not keen on and add more of those that you love! Be warned though – they are seriously addictive! We simply told ourselves that nuts are full of healthy fats, proteins and fibre to justify raiding the jar regularly – that’s ok right?!

Once made and cooled, you can store these in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to a couple of weeks. Note that this should be the limit as roasted nuts are more vulnerable to oxidation, so don’t last as long. Ours didn’t get past a few days so I’m sure that this won’t be an issue!

Let’s do this!

A few pointers before we begin:

• You’ll need 375g of nuts in total, but you can add more… this just means that the flavours are a little more spread out.
• Use nuts that you like – whether that be a single variety or a mix.
• Make sure that the nuts that you buy are unsalted and raw, as you will be adding the flavour and roasting yourself.
• Play with the seasonings to accommodate your own taste preferences.
• Make the nuts a few hours up to a day in advance of serving them – this gives them time to really soak up the amazing flavours! Remember to let the nuts fully cool though, before storing them in an airtight container.
• To view our baking sheets and trays click here.

Sweet and Spicy Mixed Roasted Nuts

Ingredients

375g or more of your choice of raw, unsalted nuts. We particularly like almonds, cashews and pecans here!
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp extra spicy Cajun seasoning (we used Schwartz brand)
Salt and pepper to taste (start with ½ tsp of each)
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Put all of the ingredients in a pan apart from the nuts and melt/stir together.
4. Add the nuts and stir well. Coat the nuts well.
5. Lay the nuts out evenly in a single layer onto the parchment paper/baking sheet.
6. Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until they are toasted and light golden in colour; toss half way through roasting.
7. Remove from the oven and allow the nuts to fully cool on the baking sheet.
8. Transfer to an airtight container if you can resist them!

So there you have it – AMAZING and easy Christmas (or any time of year) sweet and spicy mixed roasted nuts! You could even jar these up and decorate with a label and ribbon for a lovely homemade gift.

Why not tell us how yours turned out in the comments below? We are loving our series of ‘homemade’ blogs leading up to Christmas – lots of treats to serve up to friends and family, or give as a gift. Keep a lookout for more to come; they’re all geared towards gift giving for the upcoming festive season.

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