This batch of experiments got rolling with a single anecdote from a new friend of mine at Thanksgiving. My buddy Charlie was waxing nostalgic about the glazed walnuts they used to serve at buffet lunches at his church in North Carolina and it occurred to me that I rarely do cook with nuts. Yes, I’ll buy a jar of salted cashews for snacking. And I have to admit that I’m a fan of the salted, shelled, way-too-expensive pistachios since they got rid of the fire engine red food coloring. But the generation of Texture Babies coming up through the ranks complain when I add walnuts to banana bread or just about anything. Sometimes, it seems like the only nut that younger generations can deal with is creamy peanut butter.

I started hunting around the web looking for easy ways to make batches of glazed walnuts for Christmas gifts. There are plenty of recipes for stovetop glazed walnuts, but I have a history of burning any kind of nuts on the stovetop. So I kept rooting around and landed on a few recipes that called for coating walnuts or pecans in egg white and then coating them in sugar and low-roasting them in the oven. The first batches of glazed walnuts and praline pecans that I made were great, but a little on the dull side for my tastes. I mean, why make something that’s available in every supermarket in the country? So I stocked up on bags of walnuts, pecans and almonds to test some flavor combinations I could call my own.

I spent the next two weeks tweaking a basic technique and a few different flavor combinations and came up with some sure fire crowd pleasers. Cocoa Puffed Walnuts, Parmesan Crusted Pecans and Biscoff & Bacon Almond Clusters.

Basic technique

Place one egg white (or 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp from a carton of egg whites) into a 1 qt sealable container. Add 1 Tbsp confectioners sugar and stir to blend. Add 8 oz (approx 2 cups) walnut or pecan halves or whole almonds to the container, seal and tumble the container slowly with your hands for one minute to fully coat the nuts with the egg white. Preheat oven to 250°F and line a half sheet pan with a sheet of baking parchment.

In a sealable 2 cup container, add the dry dredge mixture ingredients, seal with the lid and shake container till the ingredients are fully mixed.

Add the dredge ingredients into the container with the egg white coated nuts, seal with the lid and tumble slowly for one minute until the nuts are fully coated. Dump the coated nuts out evenly onto the prepared pan and place into preheated oven for one hour, using tongs to turn the nuts over every 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool completely.

Cocoa Puffed Walnuts

Oh, the comments I got on these nuggets.... Vicki and Chelsi both said they were like a nutty Cocoa-Puffs cereal. The cocoa shell gets real crispy like cereal and the walnut gets more of a brittle crunch from the long bake in the oven. Crunchy, sweet and addictive. A little sweet, a little salty, a lotta yum.

Coating: Mix 1 egg white + 1 Tbsp confectioners sugar +1/4 teaspoon vanilla + 1/2 tsp chocolate extract (optional) and then add 8 oz walnut halves

Dredge: Mix 1/2 cup sugar + 1 tsp sea salt + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Parmesan Crusted Pecans

My chiropractor (aka The Canadian Carnivore), literally sat down at the adjustment table after my last session and started gobbling these. As I started to walk back to the reception desk, he disappeared into the break room like a squirrel in scrubs to finish them off. With only a tiny bit of sugar, they are very Keto friendly: high protein and fat and he’s all about that. Don’t be put off by the extra ingredients; they are only there to maximize the snappy cheese flavor.

Coating: Mix 1 egg white + 1 Tbsp confectioners sugar and then add 8 oz of pecan halves.

Dredge: Mix 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese + 1 tsp buttery popcorn salt (the yellow stuff) + 1 teaspoon brewers yeast + 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder + 1/4 tsp ground black pepper + Pinch ground cayenne or habanero + 1/4 tsp MSG (optional).

Biscoff Bacon Almond Clusters

Initially, I tested this mix out on pecan halves and gave out some samples to my neighbors. Jose and Dawn from across the street came back with a rather official index card full of notes about the three types of nuts I gave them. This one was their favorite, but they still felt that it needed more bacon. And I wasn’t really crazy about the flavor of the pecans against the Biscoff cookies and bacon. So I substituted roughly chopped whole almonds and turned the whole thing into nut clusters. As Dame Paula of East Lyme noted... “That crunch, with a little chewiness inside... you get the almond and then the Biscoff with a bacon finish. Delicious.” I couldn’t agree more.

Stir together in a bowl: 2 egg whites (50g) + 1 Tbsp confectioners sugar + 2 Tbsp corn syrup + 8 oz roughly chopped whole almonds + 1/4 cup brown sugar + 8 finely ground Biscoff cookies + 1 tsp sea salt + 1/2 tsp ground black pepper + 1/2 cup bacon bits (bagged, store bought kind).

Mix until you have a crumbly and sticky mass and let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 250°F and line a half sheet pan with a sheet of baking parchment. Using teaspoon or small cookie scoop, place one teaspoon clumps of the cluster mix onto the lined pan and place into the oven for one hour.

Remove pan from oven and let the clusters cool completely. If desired, dust them with a coating of confectioners sugar or sea salt, depending on your tastes. Makes approx 40 clusters. Enjoy.

Thanks to the Holiday Food Jury Nut Cases for testing out the recipes.

Upcoming and Ongoing

The Latke Focaccia recipe from King Arthur Flour is just as good as it sounds: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/latke-focaccia-recipe

Rich Swanson is a local cook who has had numerous wins in nationally sponsored recipe contests. He is also the layout specialist here at The Day.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Rich Swanson can be reached at TheSurlyTable@gmail.com.