Nuts!

Sweet 'n Spicy Almonds actually.

I loooove me some almonds - raw, roasted, Blue Diamond, in cookies, cakes, pastry, savory, really whatever, I just love them. So, while I was poking around, killing time that I should have been writing in, I came across this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs. Joy the Baker is lovely by the way, and her recipes are always great, so if you're at all into baked goods and haven't checked her out, I really recommend it.

For the Sweet 'n Spicy Almonds, I took her basic recipe and changed a few things in the spicing, mostly because the original called for fennel and James doesn't like fennel. The result is almond-flavored crack - sweet, and yes, spicy in a really neat, almost buttery-hot way. Give 'em a try - they're stupid easy to make, quick and a big ol' treat.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups raw whole almonds

- 1/3 cup sugar

- 2 tbs. water

- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

- a nice pinch of ground clove

- a very small pinch of ground cardamom

- a smallish pinch of ground ginger

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

2. Put the spices, sugar and water in a medium bowl and combine. Add the 2 cups of almonds and toss to coat.

3. Pour the almonds and all of the mixture onto the baking sheet and put it in the oven, on the center rack. Leave in for 5 minutes. At 5 minutes, pull them out, stir them around and then put them back in for 17 minutes. Keep a close eye on them, and stir them every five minutes or so.

4. After 17 minutes, the almonds should be a dark golden color. Pull them out of the oven, but leave them on the baking sheet. Separate them from each other with a fork and let cool.

5. When they're cool, the sugar and spices will have formed a shiny shell around the nut. Put them into a airtight container and they'll stay fresh for weeks, although this last bit is theory. Between Father's Day and my unholy addiction, they barely lasted the week-end in our house.

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