Tuesday Tips: A Gift for You

As some of you may have figured out by now, I am not a recipe person. To a rather ridiculous degree, actually. I don't follow them (certainly not well . . .). I don't write them. I am just not into recipes.

But I have a recipe for you today. Because as far as I can tell, there is nothing like this on the entire Internet, and that must be remedied.

It's a recipe for spiced nuts that I made up several months ago and have been making ever since. It started because my mother gave me a five-pound bag of raw almonds, and I wasn't sure what to do with them. I mean, roast them, of course, because almost all nuts are better roasted. And all nuts are better with seasonings.

But when I went searching on the all-knowing Internet for spiced almond recipes, what I found mostly fell into two categories: sweet, or spicy-hot.

I like cinnamon-sugar roasted nuts as well as the next person, but I wasn't looking to keep something covered in sugar around as a snack in my pantry. I also wasn't looking for anything that would burn my sensitive mouth, or my children's. 

So I used the general method and made up my own recipe, with a spice mixture consisting of only salt, paprika, and garlic powder. The resulting nuts are delicious on their own, but when they're eaten with sharp cheddar cheese--I prefer to take a bite of cheese, then a few nuts--they taste surprisingly like nacho cheese flavored Doritos. 

I can't explain this, but I know I like it.

I kept thinking I should actually measure ingredients and time baking and all that jazz so I could share these with you, and now seemed like a good time, what with the holidays coming up. These are, in my opinion, an excellent option for gift-giving. (Assuming, of course, that you know the recipient isn't allergic to tree nuts. But you're all intelligent enough to know that without my admonitions.)

I mean, they're tasty, convenient, portable, shelf-stable, and not filled with sugar, which I think we all get enough of this time of year. Is there a better gift for those random people you don't know well enough to buy a gift for, but feel like they deserve something? Nope. 

Here we go.

Spiced Almonds

Ingredients

3 cups raw almonds

1 egg white

1.5-2 teaspoons regular ol' table salt (I like mine pretty salty, so I use the larger amount, but if you're not into a lot of salt, you will obviously use less)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons sweet paprika (all the spiced almond recipes online that use paprika call for smoked paprika. I don't care for smoked paprika, but if you think you'd like that, have at it)

Method

Dump your raw almonds in a pile directly on a half-sheet baking pan. You do not need to line the pan, oil it, or anything else.

Beat your egg white in a small bowl with a fork for one minute. It will be frothy. 

Dump the egg white on top of your pile of almonds and mix it around with your hands until the almonds are all coated. 

Sprinkle on the salt, garlic powder, and paprika, then mix with your hands again until all the spices are evenly distributed. Spread the almonds out into one layer in the pan.

Bake in a 325 degree oven. After about ten minutes, use a spatula to stir the almonds around and loosen them from the bottom of the pan. They'll be a bit stuck, but you won't have to pry them up or anything.

Bake fifteen more minutes (for a total baking time of 25 minutes), then remove from the oven and let the almonds cool on the pan.

When they're cool, put them in a jar with a screw-on lid. 

Ta da! That's it.

And look, I even took a picture of the finished product for you.

I probably should have had them artfully strewn across a decorative platter, but . . . no. Here they are in the jar, because that's what they look like in my kitchen.

Now go forth and roast some nuts. You won't be sorry.