Honey Roasted Cashews

I had chicken wings marinated in hoisin sauce ready waiting to be cooked for dinner. Since these would be going into the oven, I wanted to bake something else while the oven was on. The hand blender I got from Mindy conked out on me the other day, so cookies and the like were out of the question. I decided to try yet another recipe for honey roasted nuts.

You see I am still trying to replicate the honey roasted macadamia nuts they sell commercially. I haven't quite figured out the recipe. (Any suggestions, Mother?)

This is the version of the one I tried tonight. It still did not replicate the commercially sold honey roasted nuts, but it is a winner. It was sweet and salty, and kind of addictive. Needless to say, it was calorie-laden.

HONEY ROASTED CASHEW NUTS

NUTS:

4 c salted cashews

CARAMEL:

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c honey

1/4 c butter

SPICE MIXTURE:

2 T sugar

2 t ground cinnamon

1 t salt

1 t paprika

1/4 t white pepper

Heat oven to 350ºC.

Line baking pan with aluminum foil.

Place nuts in a even layer on prepared pan.

Roast for 5 minutes.

Transfer to a bowl.

Combine caramel ingredients in a saucepan to make syrup.

Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.

Once boiling, do not stir. Boil for 5 minutes.

While syrup is cooking, combine ingredients for spice mixture.

Pour hot syrup over nuts. Stir well.

Sprinkle with spice mixture and stir well.

Transfer to baking sheet and separate with fork.

Allow to cool completely. Store in air-tight container.

(Notes : Original recipe used 1 cup each of almonds, pecans, unsalted cashews and macadamia nuts. Since I was using salted cashews, I reduced the salt from 1 1/2 t to 1 t, and roasted for 5 minutes instead of original 12 to 15 minutes. The original recipe called for 1 t ground cloves and 1/2 t pepper. There are no ground cloves in the above recipe simply because that spice is not something I have in the kitchen. I reduced the amount of pepper because the kids don't particularly like too much pepper in their food. I assumed it was white pepper but I guess black pepper would have worked just as well. )