These nuts are slightly sweet and salty and laced with cinnamon and vanilla. I’ve made candied nuts quite a bit in the past, but I love this newest recipe. It’s not as sweet, so I like them better for snacking on or for putting in salads. They add just the right amount of sweet and saltiness to a salad. Yum! This method of using an egg white coating adds a very nice crunchy texture.
This simple recipe is perfect for doing with children. My four year old loved making these nuts with me (despite the fact that she doesn’t enjoy walnuts as much as I do). They would also make a very nice homemade gift if packaged in a nice jar (and perhaps a bow?).
Of course, if you wanted a sweeter version, you can easily up the sweetener, up to double. Other variations I’ve thought of include doubling the vanilla, and trying it with different nuts (I think this combo would be delicious with cashews!).
Cinnamon and Vanilla Walnuts
1 egg white
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of rapadura, sucanat, maple sugar, or palm/coconut sugar
2 1/2 cups of walnutsPreheat the oven to 300 degrees (the rack should be in the middle of the oven). And either lightly coat a cookie pan with coconut oil or butter or cover with parchment paper.
1)Lightly beat the egg white with a whisk (just until a bit foamy). Add the cinnamon, vanilla, salt and sugar. Stir in the walnuts, coat the walnuts well.
2) Remove the walnuts with a slotted spoon (allowing extra coating to drip out), and place on the cookie sheet. Spread out on the cookie sheet so that the nuts aren’t touching for the most part. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.
3) Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
These sounds great. I’ve been experimenting with pecans lately in my dehydrator (not wanting to heat them to temps that destroy nutrients) and the palm sugar works great with cinnamon. But NOW I will have to use vanilla too. Thanks for the tip!
Betting this will work with other nuts, as well.
Nice post.
Ciao,
Pavil
These sound great and would make wonderful holiday gifts! Have you ever tried using honey as the sweetener?
I haven’t tried a “wet ” sweetener before. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
I tried these with 1/3 c. maple syrup last night. Wonderful– we couldn’t stop eating them!
These look amazing! I may make a batch for xmas presents.
Looks like a good snack for Christmas gatherings. Thanks.
I just printed the recipe and I’m going to make it as soon as I can! These sound very Yummy
So do you think pecans would work fine with this? I have lots of pecans but not walnuts.
Definitely! I actually would have used pecans if I had them on hand. Because walnuts have a pretty assertive flavor, I think I would like pecans even better.
THANKS! Will definitely be trying with my girls!
I like to soak my nuts and dehydrate them before I eat them.. will that still work here?
Thanks it looks SO YUMMY!
Jani
You can use dehydrated nuts in this recipe. Doing both soaking and dehydrating as well as toasting may reduce the phytic acid and anti-nutrients the most.
Although, I usually just do one or another.
This sounds like a wonderful recipe… I don’t usually choose walnuts because they have a bit of a bite, but I’ll bet they would be great this way…
I like the suggestion of the dehydrator – I’ll try it that way!
I used to avoid walnuts for the same reason, but when I recently tried some from a local farmer, they were delicious. I suspect the “bite” I was tasting before was from eating improperly stored old (rancid) walnuts. Now I buy them fresh from the farmer each season and store the walnuts in their shells in the freezer. Yum!!
Are these soaked and dried nuts or just straight raw?
I just used raw.
I will have to try these in a dehydrator as well to have a more raw treat. That way I can soak them ahead of time. However, I might just grow impatient and try the recipe as is. It looks so good, and it’s incredibly simple!
Kimi, as usual this is a great idea, and looks delicious!
Kimi, this looks like it will hit the spot. I JUST finished dehydrating some soaked pecans, and now I know what I’m doing with them!!
I am planning to try a recipe today for pecans with dried cranberries, brown rice syrup (or maybe some maple!), orange zest, and black pepper. Ingredients modified from a prepared snack I love because of the combined sweetness, tang and light heat! I might try this recipe at the same time.
What delightful treats!! These must taste awesome & well flavoured too!
MMMMMMM,..great to give as a special food gift too!
You have a COOl food blog! Many greetings from Brussels, Belgium!!!
Thanks for posting these! I’ve been looking for a healthy recipe to use as Christmas gifts. My kids aren’t wild about nuts but I bet with a little flavor and sweetness, they might be more inclined to eat them. BTW, I made your nut butter cookies and all 5 of my kids loved them, which is an absolute rarity.
Candied nuts are on the top of my Christmas goodies list! This recipe is great…made it already, with pecans! Thanks
Kimi, I’m on an anti-fungal diet so need to avoid all the sweetener possibilities you mentioned in the recipe. Do you think xylitol would work for these?
That is my question too as I have the same situation…
I so can’t wait to try these!!!
Thanks so much for posting! I’ve been thinking about making some kind of spiced walnuts for Christmas gifts, as we have been blessed with an abundance of walnuts this year from a friend. So many of the standard online recipes have way too much sugar.
These look SOOO good!! Do you have any ideas of might be able to be substituted for the egg white? My son is allergic to eggs.
I’m sure Ener-G brand egg replacer (ingredients: potato starch, tapioca flour, leavening-calcium lactate, calcium carbonate, citric acid- cellulose gum) would work fine. It works for breading and has the consistancy of egg white. Otherwise here are some homemade egg replacers -kve read about, but never used, don’t know if they’d work in a breading application:
**** for each egg called for:
> 1 tsp baking powder, 1 Tbsp ‘liquid’+ 1 Tbsp vinegar
Or
>1 packet gelatin mixed w/2 Tbsp warm water
Sorry I’m so late in asking this question, but…IF I soaked the nuts before (my mom can only digest soaked nuts), could I use them wet in this recipe do you think? Or would I need to dehydrate them and then follow up with the recipe? What would you do?
Thanks!
Awesome! I can’t wait to try this.
Saw the recipe tonight, knew I had all the ingredients, whipped up a batch. I cannot wait to eat them! They smell so good. This will end up on my linky love this week! Thanks for the post!
These are the best! My family loved them even my picky daughter. They are so easy to make and doesn’t take much time at all!
Okay, so I’ve been having a lot of fun with this recipe
I have made them with pecan halves which were amazing. And then we ate them so fast that I had to make more. I had already soaked and dehydrated whole cashews and pecan pieces, so I used those (separately). Both version are so delicious, and the house smells amazing. Also, the pecan pieces are perfect for my almost 2-year-old because I don’t worry about him choking. And boy does he demand some of his own when it comes to these!
Delicious! I made this recipe earlier this evening. I was so confident that it was going to be good that I made a double batch so that I can put some on cookie plates for friends and neighbors this week. This recipe is a keeper for sure!
Wow, these are so good! I accidentally doubled the vanilla.
And I probably used about 3 1/2 cups of walnuts.
I made these as appetizers for Christmas dinner and they were a HUGE hit! Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
When a few of you speak(in the above posts) and say: soaked and dehydrate nuts. The proper way to say it is: soak/soaking and hydrate/hydrating nuts. Dehydrating nuts is drying them and hydrating is adding moiture/liquid to them. I used to often say it that way myself.
Rita,
Actually what is being referred to above is actually dehydration. Many of us soak (or hydrate) nuts to remove some of the anti-nutrients, and then dehydrate them in food dryers.
I can see why that would be confusing.
Thank you for this recipe. My DC and I just made these for a Christmas treat. They are quite yummy and easy to enjoy!
Wow, those look delicious, remind me of the almonds they have at ATT park at Giant’s Games. I’m sure most would overeat and contribute to the belly bulge.
These are SO good! I made them with a mixture of almonds and walnuts, and it’s great snack to have in my desk drawer at work. It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet and it just perfectly curbs your hunger. Not to mention, coming from a health nut, this is a snack that I don’t feel guilty indulging in!
Thanks for the recipe!
that looks very appetizing. must try it!
I tried this with almonds and it worked like magic!
I used this in almonds nuts and its like magic! It too is a mus try.
people ask stupid questions! “can i use pecans?” “can i use honey?” “will this work with other nuts?”
c’mon you morons!
I have made something similar but use ideal brown in place of the sugar. Ideal is a mixture of xylitol and splenda. Its great
I am bookmarking this page….vanilla and cinnamon are two of my favorite spices and I am sure I am not alone.
There are many variety of walnuts and becasue they are a rich source of energy and health benefits I can eat them as they are or baked in cakes they are also a source of omega 3. I loved the Cinnamon and Vanilla Walnuts
There are many variety of walnuts and because they are a rich source of energy and health benefits I can eat them as they are or baked in cakes they are also a source of Omega 3. I loved the Cinnamon and Vanilla Walnuts.
Sounds like a great recipe. Looks like one too. Thanks for posting it!
I thought walnuts were pretty much perfect, but you’ve improved them. Can’t wait to try this at home.
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