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Another humble moment....

The above recipe is a combination of cashews, walnuts, pecans, and almonds that are mixed with maple syrup, brown sugar, orange juice , chipotle powder, rosemary, and Kosher salt (2 teaspoons). All the ingredients are mixed together and roasted for 25 minutes. When done, 2 more teaspoons of salt and 2 more tablespoons of rosemary are mixed in.

In the recipe, she specifies that the cashews are roasted and unsalted. However, she does not say anything about the whole walnut halves, the whole pecan halves or whole almonds.

I guess I'm wondering whether the walnut and pecans halves as well as the whole almonds should be roasted (vs. raw) and whether they should be unsalted rather than salted or lightly salted (TJ's has all of these possibilities).

Any thoughts on what type of nut should be used? Thanks so much for your help!

Gerard

Gerard,

Actually, I'd think that the other nuts should probably be raw, since you're cooking them for 25 minutes. The cashews are listed as "roasted & unsalted" because you can't actually buy raw cashews (they're poisonous). You choices are lightly roasted, and dark roasted.

However, I've never made that particular recipe before, so maybe someone with more direct experience could speak up.

Never made this, but I'm inclined to agree with Fuzzy. They should be raw and unsalted.

Amy

Thanks, Fuzzy and Thanks Amy!

I did find the recipe online (on the food network website, see below) and there is even a video of Ina making the recipe. What is somewhat confusing is that the nuts that she uses all "look" roasted. They are all various shades of brown - not like some of the white (possibly blanched) raw nuts I saw at TJs. But I might be wrong and Ina might be using raw, not roasted nuts - even though they look quite colorful.

Anyway, here's the link to the food network recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina- ... index.html. And right under the title, there are three tabs: recipes, rating and reviews, video. If you click on video - you can see her make it.

The reviews are consistently high both here and on other food bloggers posts.

I'd be interested in what you think of the video and what others have to say as well.

Thanks so much!

Gerard

Of the nuts in the recipe, only cashews are pale. With the others, the seed coat is about the same shade of brown in the raw or minimally processed state as they are roasted.

If you buy your nuts in the baking or bulk aisle and buy the largest and fanciest walnuts and pecans, you will have the correct nuts. Some care is needed with almonds to avoid salted and flavored snack nuts and should also come from the baking and bulk aisles. White almonds are blanched, peeled and usually slivered. Great for toffee. Not needed for a flavored snack nut recipe.

Thanks so much Jim, that's really helpful.

FWIW - this recipe gets consistent rave reviews on the Food Network website and on various food blogger websites. I'll be making it later in the week and be sure to post the results.

Gerard

Spiced nuts in general are amazing. Last year there was a recipe that used bacon and brown sugar.... I had to make extra batches of that one. The Silver Palate has a good one as well. I do hope these turn out!

I made these last month for a party. They are crazy good. Definitely have a kick to them. It makes a ton and there wasn't a single nut left! (and all of the nuts I used were unsalted and raw).

Emilie

Made the first batch last night - very very good (spicy, sweet, salty). If you don't have chipolte powder on hand, you might want to try smoked paprika or something like that.

While the nuts cooled to room temperature and were easy to handle, I noticed this morning that they were all clumped together in the tupperware I had put them in.

Will be making a second batch tonight.

Again, thanks for your help with the selection of nuts!

Gerard