Nuts for Nuts (Candied Nuts)

The week before Easter, we bought a tin of butter roasted nuts from T. J. Maxx. We just love the random food selection in that store. We put them out on Easter and Amy's mom loved them so much we let her take them home. Then the cravings set in. Amy just had to have some sweet and crunchy nuts, something that made her think of the ones she gets on the streets of New York City.

Thankfully, there's this thing called "The Internet," where we found a copycat recipe for the NYC original Nuts for Nuts. Honestly, it took about 5 minutes to make a batch, and while they were not exactly the same, they were good enough for the time being. Until we can get to NYC again, anyway. (We booked our hotel room yesterday.)

Next time, we might experiment with a little salt, or cayenne, or...who knows what? Let us know if you come up with something delicious!

Nuts for Nuts Copycat Recipe

from Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups raw nuts (we used Fisher Nuts Brand "Chef's Naturals" Cooking Nuts)

Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once the sugar has dissolved, lower the heat to medium and stir in the nuts. Cook for two minutes, stirring occasionally. At the 2-minute mark, stir vigorously for one minute. The water will evaporate and the sugar will crystallize onto the nuts. When this happens, turn off the heat but continue to stir until the sugar browns slightly. Pour coated nuts onto a plate to cool.

Homemade Cracker Jacks

It was a pretty busy weekend for us. Amy's school had graduation Friday night (along with some teacher celebration afterwards), we went to L's birthday party Saturday night, the ribbon cutting for the beautiful new barn at the Coventry Farmers Market (which our neighbor L had a huge part in building) was Sunday morning, then we met Amy's family for lunch to celebrate Father's Day. Sunday afternoon was spent prepping snacks and cupcakes for this afternoon's book club meeting. So when Sunday evening came, and it was time to relax and watch a movie, we wanted an easy, yummy, movie-watching snack. That's where our Secret Recipe Club assignment for June comes in.

Danielle is the author of Delicious Existence. She is a holistic health and wellness coach whose blog promotes a healthy and happy lifestyle in which raw, vegan and vegetarian foods play a huge role. She lists her recipes as "Kitchen Adventures" (which we love!), and they are indexed by picture rather than by name. It was fun exploring the site, but as much as we'd love to say we made something really healthy for us, we didn't. You know us better than that by now. We made her recipe for homemade "cracker jacks." Perfect for movie-watching.

We did make a couple of changes to Danielle's recipe, which made it not quite as healthy for us, but still delicious. We didn't want to buy "vegan buttery spread" just for a couple of tablespoons, so we went ahead and used butter, which (obviously) means our version isn't vegan. And when we went to make it, we realized we didn't have any brown sugar, so we used turbinado sugar. Also, Danielle lets hers cook in a slow cooker for about 45 minutes, while we just did it in a double-boiler, only cooking ours for about 15 minutes. We wanted quick! Nonetheless, nutty, crunchy, sticky and yummy, this snack was exactly what we wanted.

Homemade Cracker Jacks

slightly adapted from Delicious Existence

 

Ingredients:

1 cup organic turbinado (cane) sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2/3 cup popcorn kernels

2 cups roasted, salted peanuts

In a double-boiler, over medium heat, place the sugar, honey, molsses, butter, apple sauce, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Stir and cook for about 15 minutes, until well combined, hot, and bubbly. In the meantime, make the popcorn by cooking the kernels in the coconut oil (we do ours in our Whirley Popper), or air-pop if you desire. Mix the cooked popcorn and the peanuts in a (very) large bowl. Pour the sauce over the popcorn and peanuts and mix until well coated. Cover a couple of baking sheets with wax paper and spread the "cracker jacks" onto the sheets to cool and harden. Store in an airtight container until ready to eat.

Wordless Weekender: Warm Honeyed Brie with Grapes and Crackers

Chex Mix = The Holidays

Amy writes:

When I was a kid, one sure sign it was the holidays was the large tin of homemade Chex Mix on the counter. It didn't stay on the counter long, however, but once that tin was close to empty, you could count on smelling Chex, butter and various seasonings baking in the oven at any minute. We were in need of a constant supply.

Over the years, I have refined my taste for Chex Mix and thus, the family recipe has slightly changed to meet these preferences (or, what my friend Joanne calls, Amy-Approved Ingredients). No nuts or pretzels in my mix! (I like them, just not mixed in with my Chex). It's cereal only, specifically Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Corn Chex and Cheerios in equal amounts. The seasonings are also very specific and no substitutes are allowed. To me, and other members of my family (who will remain nameless to protect their identities), Chex Mix is Christmas crack. Each batch (which is actually a double-batch) contains three sticks of butter. Yes, you read that right. Therefore, finally realizing admitting that my favorite holiday snack is probably accounting for any holiday weight gain I might incur, this year, I've made some rules regarding my own personal Chex Mix production and consumption.

Rule One: The earliest that Chex Mix can be made is the day after Thanksgiving.

Rule Two: After New Year's Day, any remaining Chex Mix must be tossed.

Rule Three: Not more than one (double) batch can be made in any given week.
Rule Four: Chex Mix must be eaten in a little bowl rather than directly from the tin.

Rule Five: Whenever possible, gallon-sized bags of Chex Mix must be offered as gifts to friends and aforementioned family members.

Ah...Chex Mix. Salty. Crunchy. Garlicky. Full of that savory, almost meaty, flavor that is known as umami. Licking fingers coated in butter and bits of cereal. Chewing on Cheerios that are dark brown, shrunken little circles of deliciousness. Ah, heck. It's the holidays! I deserve a treat! Besides, it's just cereal, and cereal is healthy - whole grains and all that! Note to self: must get to nearest grocery store, buy more cereal. And butter! Need butter! Bring over that tin! Hey...hands off my Chex Mix!!!

Note: I credit my mother for the original recipe from which I adapted this, and have no idea where she got it from. Also, remember, this makes a double batch, so make it in a large roasting pan. And, finally, no substitutions. And no, I haven't been paid by any of these companies.

Ingredients:

3 sticks salted butter
2 1/2 teaspoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1 teaspoon McCormick's Season-All Seasoned Salt
1/4 teaspoon McCormick's Garlic Powder
4 1/2 tablespoons Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 box Wheat Chex
1/2 box Rice Chex
1/2 box Corn Chex
1/2 box Cheerios

Heat oven to 250 degrees. In a large roasting pan, melt the butter. Mix in seasonings and worcestershire sauce. Fold in cereal slowly until all of it is coated with the seasoned butter. Bake at 250 for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every fifteen minutes. Increase oven temperature to 275 and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container. Try to share.

Disclaimer: Through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, Lea & Perrins sent us a coupon for a free bottle of their Worcestershire sauce which we used in this recipe.