Yummy Nuts

These are crunchy, delicious and addicting! Sweet and salty too.

My sister-in-law has been making these for years, and graciously shared the recipe with me (and now you!).  When I first tried them, I thought it was the most amazing thing I ever tasted!
Now I make these every Christmas time, to eat and share.
They make great hostess gifts or gifts for co-workers and perfect for a holiday gathering.  I once took a huge double batch of these into work and they were devoured in under two hours!  

I tell myself that these are better for you than candy, because the nuts have protein and good oils.... okay, I know that not exactly correct, but it works for me at this time of year. 

These nuts are, of course, great on their own for snacking, but also fantastic in salads (think of it with pears and blue cheese, tossed with some greems!) and also good in cookies for some more crunch.

One other thing, you could add spices to the mixture for a little more kick.  Try cinnamon, cloves, or ground ginger.  

Makes about 5 cups

1/2 cup butter, I use regular salted butter.
1 cup sugar
2 egg whites
5 cups of nuts (walnuts or pecans)
Dash of salt, if desired

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Cut the butter in half (1/4 cup each) and one to each cookie sheet.  Add it to the oven to melt while you are doing the rest of the prep for the yummy nuts.

Separate the eggs, retaining the yolks for another use (like scrambled eggs tomorrow).
With a mixer, beat the egg whites until they are starting to firm up.  Sprinkle in the sugar while the mixer is going. It will be a sticky, shiny mixture that almost looks like marshmallow cream.

Add the nuts

Mix to coat the nuts, don't stir too vigorously, just enough to coat the nuts.

Take your hot, buttery pans out of the oven.  They look something like this:

Add the nuts in one single layer.... that's why I have you use two pans.  You could do one pan, but it's a bit trickier to stir them later on.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring them every 10 minutes! The nuts will brown as the time goes, and stirring helps to brown evenly. 

Try to let them cool a bit before trying them...