Swedish Nuts – A Tasty Treat for the Holidays

This recipe was made for holiday gift-giving, though it’s delicious any time of the year

If you’re looking for an inexpensive gift to give your family, friends, neighbors or office colleagues, here is a treat that is (a) homemade, (b) delicious and (c) inexpensive to make.

I’m talking about Swedish Nuts – pecans in this case – but any nuts will do.

For a minimal cost, you can create a whopping mound of glazed nuts for your potlucks and get-togethers. The same recipe will make 3 or 4 small cookie tins of yummy sugar-coated pecans (walnuts, almonds, mixed nuts) with the very easy-to-follow recipe that you’ll see below.

I am not much of a cook, but I had these nuts for the first time a few Christmases ago and was hooked – very hooked. These Swedish Pecans are so tasty that you’ll have to make a batch for gifts and another batch for the house.

Awhile back our housemate made Swedish Nuts for the first time… and probably every weekend from Halloween to Christmas. We really love these nuts.

Because these nuts were such a big hit at home, I decided to try my hand at making Swedish Nuts to give my neighbors and lawn guy a nice, inexpensive gift for the holidays. My budget was a little tighter then and I wanted to see how many tries it would take me to get this recipe down pat.

Well, the recipe I’m about to share with you is one of those “what you see is what you get” recipes. I followed it precisely… and it came out precisely right. I was, quite frankly, amazed – and tremendously pleased.

Start with fresh, good quality nuts

If you use roasted nuts, you can omit the first step in the recipe. I personally love using pecans for this recipe, but I’ve had almonds, too, and they make a very tasty Swedish Nuts treat. Once you get the first batch down, try adding 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and/or 3/4 tsp cinnamon. I used organic Florida Crystals sugar, which is not quite white. Your end product will look a little different than mine if you use refined white sugar. My recipe calls for beating the egg whites to a soft peak. Other recipes call for a stiff peak, either before or after adding the sugar.

Servings: 12
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. (3 1/2 cups) fresh pecan halves
• 1/2 cup (one stick) butter
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup white sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place nuts on a 10 x 15 (or larger) cookie sheet or jellyroll pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
3. While the nuts toast, beat egg whites in a medium bowl until soft peaks form.
4. Gradually beat in the sugar and salt.
5. Remove nuts from oven after 10 minutes and cool a little on a different plate (I used my other cookie sheet for this).
6. Slice the butter onto your baking pan and melt in the preheated oven.
7. Fold the toasted nuts into the egg white mixture, coating the nuts evenly.
8. Arrange the coated nuts in a single layer on the hot buttered pan.
9. Bake for 30 minutes in the 325 degree oven. Turn the nuts with a spatula every 8-10 minutes, making sure they all get into the melted butter.
10. At 30 minutes, your nuts should be a nice golden color and crispy on the outside. Don’t worry if they seem soft when you test a hot one. They firm up while cooling.
11. Place on aluminum foil to cool (I used two cooling racks with foil on top).
12. Test a few (try and stop me). When cooled, store in airtight containers.
    

For holiday gift giving, Amazon has a variety of Christmas-themed cookie tins. Choose your price, size and design, watching for the 4-star reviews or higher to ensure the tightness of the lids… and the freshness of your nuts.