Sugared Pecans Recipe

[image error]

This Sugared Nuts recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I needed to take something to share at a recent writers’ meeting. Because it travels easily, this recipe caught my eye. You can use either pecan halves or walnut halves. I chose pecans.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

I used a pound of pecans since I was taking these to a meeting. You may need less depending on the size of the crowd.

Mix together ½ cup sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon in a flat bowl and set aside.

Take 1 egg white (room temperature works best for beating) and add 1 tablespoon of water. The recipe did not say how long to beat the egg white mixture, so I beat it until stiff, frothy white peaks formed.

It worked best for me to set up an assembly line: beaten egg whites next to the sugar mixture and then the cookie sheet.

Dip the pecans into the egg whites. Roll it in sugar and then place it on the cookie sheet. One by one grew tedious quickly. I put a handful of pecans into the egg whites and then placed them on a separate plate. I added pecans to the plate until the excess egg whites were absorbed. Then I rolled them by small bunches into the sugar.

I had to make a second batch of cinnamon sugar to finish a pound of pecans.

Bake the sugared pecans for 1 hour at 225 degrees, stirring them every 15 minutes. They smell heavenly!

Delicious! Baking made the pecans a crunchy dessert that later softened. The aroma made me hungry. I like cinnamon so I will double it the next time I make these.

A pound of pecans filled the whole cookie sheet, so let that guide you in guessing how many you will need to serve. These make a delicious appetizer for a party.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.