The CookingBites Recipe Challenge: Almonds

[ElizabethB]

TastyReuben
Glazed nuts are a holiday favorite - usually Louisiana Pecans. My family likes them kicked up with a pinch of Cayenne, a pinch of smoked paprika and a pinch pf garlic powder.

 

[ElizabethB]

What have the nuts done to deserve all this hatred?!

LissaC - no hatred. Teasing, baiting and sometimes bickering but all in loving fun. You will see that certain members take pleasure in antagonizing each other - all in fun. Trust me - there is no hatred. The foolishness reminds me of my family. We all tease each other. We can tease and insult each other but beware to anyone outside of the family who dares to do the same. It is the same with this community - what may sound hateful is just family members messing with each other - with love.

 

[ElizabethB]

TastyReuben
Your avatar looks like you just woke up from a week long bender. Obviously exactly what you intended.

 

[caseydog]

Let's get things started with an appetizer/snack:

Recipe - Honey-Glazed Almonds

First off, very easy, though it was hard not to eat the almonds as-is, because my almond preference is for them to be raw, since they're a good bit softer that way.

I was a little curious as to why the author specified a 2-cup measure for such a scant amount of glaze, but apparently, honey likes to climb the cup when microwaved. Now I know.

The glaze itself is sweet, and doesn't really taste all that much of honey (I'm not that fond of honey, so that's a good thing), and making these again, I might up the spices a bit, and I'd probably use table salt instead of kosher salt (or more kosher salt), because raw nuts can take a lot of salt, and these taste like they need a bit more.

Honey-Glazed Almonds

• TastyReuben
• 4 Sep 2020

Okay, I can strike glazed almonds from my list of possible entries.

CD

 

[caseydog]

TastyReuben
Glazed nuts are a holiday favorite - usually Louisiana Pecans. My family likes them kicked up with a pinch of Cayenne, a pinch of smoked paprika and a pinch pf garlic powder.

Yup. I make glazed pecans every year for the holidays. My dad loves them.

I posted this before, but have no idea how to link to that post, so here is the copy/pasta version...

After dinner, I made some glazed pecans to take to my family this week for the holidays.

Really simple. Just equal parts of butter, brown sugar and good maple syrup, cooked low in a saucepan until incorporated, and then stir in the pecans. When fully coated, spread them on baking sheets with wire racks and bake in the oven at 350F for 15-20 minutes. All the baking does is harden the glaze, which dries when it is cooled.

This batch, I used 2.5 pounds of pecan halves, and 1/2 cup of brown sugar, butter and maple syrup. But, as long as you use eaual parts for the glaze, you can make as much or as little as you want.

You could easily use walnuts or almonds instead of pecans. Not sure about other nuts.

CD

 

[ElizabethB]

I am thinking about something with almond butter. Have to try it and see if it works.

 

[ElizabethB]

Last night I had chicken thighs defrosted for dinner. I remembered the Almond Challenge and decided to make almond crusted chicken thighs. I used Smoky, roasted, Salted Almonds. Some were finely chopped for the crust and some were ground to mix with Panko for the first dredge. All of the ingredients tasted great, the final product looked lovely, the taste was only OK. G was underwhelmed. Not competition worthy. Failures are as important as successes. I know what I have to do to bring the recipe over the top. I may or may not make it again in time for the challenge.

 

[JAS_OH1]

LissaC - no hatred. Teasing, baiting and sometimes bickering but all in loving fun. You will see that certain members take pleasure in antagonizing each other - all in fun. Trust me - there is no hatred. The foolishness reminds me of my family. We all tease each other. We can tease and insult each other but beware to anyone outside of the family who dares to do the same. It is the same with this community - what may sound hateful is just family members messing with each other - with love.

I think LissaC was teasing as well.

 

[caseydog]

Last night I had chicken thighs defrosted for dinner. I remembered the Almond Challenge and decided to make almond crusted chicken thighs. I used Smoky, roasted, Salted Almonds. Some were finely chopped for the crust and some were ground to mix with Panko for the first dredge. All of the ingredients tasted great, the final product looked lovely, the taste was only OK. G was underwhelmed. Not competition worthy. Failures are as important as successes. I know what I have to do to bring the recipe over the top. I may or may not make it again in time for the challenge.

I have to say that the idea sounds GREAT! Sorry the results were not what you had in mind. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I admire your honesty. You could have posted a pretty picture and a recipe, and said it was awesome.

CD

 

[TastyReuben]

Okay, I can strike glazed almonds from my list of possible entries.

CD

Make them and post them! There's no chance what you post will be like what I posted, and "glazed nuts" could be a category on its own, there's so many variations, kind of like "salad dressing."

Also, think of the greater good. I think the purpose of these challenges is to get recipes posted to the site, so another glazed nuts recipe isn't a bad thing.

Seriously...I don't expect to "win" with a glazed nut recipe. It's just a simple intro recipe to get things rolling. I'd love having another recipe in my pocket for the holidays.

 

[Mountain Cat]

It'll be a challenge for me because I generally don't like nuts cooked in anything, so I've got to do some digging...maybe something with almond paste?

Same here. If I make anything it will be with almond flour. At least you picked one of the few nuts that doesn't engender gastrointestinal distress.

 

[Mountain Cat]

I too like pecan pie at room temperature. I never considered that anyone would ever eat it otherwise. But I like EXTRA pecans in my pecan pie.

Even when I could eat pecans, I always refused to eat pecan pie. Shudder.

 

[Mountain Cat]

And I am guessing you don't drink almond milk or use almond flour, but you will drink amaretto? I rest my case

I will drink amaretto and eat almond flour. But that's as far as I want to go.

 

[Mountain Cat]

The most compelling reason is that it's healthier. It's lower in fat, has fewer calories, and is higher in a more easily absorbed form of calcium than cows milk.

Edited to add that I didn't mean to sound preachy. It's not exactly like I am a health "nut" LOL (says the person who made biscuits and sausage gravy with eggs and cheddar cheese for breakfast).

I've tried almond milk. I found it rather watery and without substance. I don't use milk of any kind very often, so I will stick with whole cow milk when working on a recipe. But I will say it is indeed better than soy or rice milk, and thus usable.

 

[caseydog]

Make them and post them! There's no chance what you post will be like what I posted, and "glazed nuts" could be a category on its own, there's so many variations, kind of like "salad dressing."

Also, think of the greater good. I think the purpose of these challenges is to get recipes posted to the site, so another glazed nuts recipe isn't a bad thing.

Seriously...I don't expect to "win" with a glazed nut recipe. It's just a simple intro recipe to get things rolling. I'd love having another recipe in my pocket for the holidays.

So, I can post my glazed almonds, and we can both lose together.

CD