Candied Cashews and Pecans
Cashews and Pecans tossed in cinnamon sugar & egg white mixture and roasted until crunchy to make this dangerously addictive candied cashews and pecans.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted whole roasted Cashews if you use salted, reduce salt accordingly
- 1 cup unsalted Pecan halves if you use salted, reduce salt accordingly
- 1 egg white
- ⅔ cup white granulated sugar I used Cane Sugar which looks like brown sugar but is not. See notes below*
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp Cinnamon you can increase the amount if you like more cinnamon flavor
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter Only for Oven method, For air fryer method, use a small cube of butter to grease the preheated air fryer
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Optional
- Pinch or two pinches of cayenne pepper optional if you want that spicy kick
Instructions
Oven Method
- Preheat the Oven to 325°F (163°C). While the oven is preheating, Cut the 2 tablespoons butter into cubes and place them evenly on a baking sheet and put the baking sheet in the oven for the butter to melt. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and set it aside, as soon as the butter is melted to avoid burning. If you don't want to use the butter, then use a silicon mat lined baking sheet to make cleaning easy.
- Separate the egg yolk and egg white of an egg and take the egg white in a medium size mixing bowl ( We DO NOT need the egg yolk in this recipe ). Add vanilla extract and whisk it until frothy.
- Add sugar, salt and cinnamon to the the egg white mixture and mix it gently until well combined.
- Now add the cashews and pecan halves to this mixture and mix well until all the nuts are properly coated with the egg white and sugar mixture.
- Spread these cinnamon sugar coated cashews and pecans in a single flat layer on the sheet pan which is ready with the melted butter.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 mins. Take them out and stir properly every 10 mins for the first 20 mins and watch very closely after 20 mins to check if they are done. They took about 28 mins in my oven but every oven is little different, So watch to see they don't burn in the last few mins.
- Once candied cashews and pecans are done, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool completely. Nuts get crunchier as they cool down, so wait until they are completely cool to enjoy them. Leave them on the counter for couple hours and then store them in an air tight container at room temperature for around 2 to 4 weeks ( if they last that long🙂 )
Air fryer Method
- Preheat the air fryer for 3 mins. Take a small cube of butter on a fork and grease the preheated air fryer basket evenly.
- Use the above instructions to prepare the egg white and sugar coated nut mixture.
- Spread the cinnamon sugar pecans and cashews in the air fryer basket evenly in a single layer as much as possible. ( I took the slotted crisper trays out of my air fryer basket and spread the nuts on the greased flat non stick base of the air fryer basket of my Gourmia Air fryer.
- Air fry at 300°F for about 20 to 25 mins, stirring every 5 mins, until the caramelized pecans and cashews nuts are done and take them out to lay them down on a parchment paper or a silicon mat to cool down. It took me 25 mins in my air fryer but since every air fryer is different, watch closely after 15 mins to make sure nuts are not burning. Nuts get crunchier as they cool down, so wait until they are completely cool to enjoy them. Store them in an air tight container at room temperature for around 2 weeks.
Notes
- Oven Method is adapted from Mel's KITCHEN CAFE
- You can reduce the amount of sugar to ½ cup instead of ⅔ cup if you prefer. They will still be very good but you might not get that exact taste that you get when you buy in the mall or street fairs. I observed that reducing the sugar to ½ cup in air fryer method is completely ok and still gives almost comparable results. That said, if I am making these for snacking at home, I usually make with ½ cup sugar, whereas when I am making these for gifting or events, I make them with ⅔ cup sugar. Choose your preferred amount.
- Choose the air fryer only when you are making a single batch of this recipe. Anything more that, oven is the best method.
- I always made this recipe with cashew nuts and pecans because they are my favorite candied nuts but this should work well with other nuts like almonds, pistachios etc.. too.