Sweeten up halved walnuts with maple syrup for an addicting snack that also makes for a great hostess gift.
The first time I made this recipe was about three years ago when I wanted to make a homemade gift for my now father-in-law. I’ve always liked the idea of making a food item to give to someone letting me stay at or visit their house. It’s a great option if you don’t know what to buy them for a gift but would rather not show up empty-handed either.
Filling up a little jar with a batch of these sweetened walnuts makes for an easy hostess-type gift, if you’re ever in need of one. In addition to having something to offer, it shows you put in some effort to make something personal. It’s a win-win!
You can make candied nuts a few different ways, but I chose a process of first cooking it on the stove to evaporate some of the moisture from the maple syrup (and helping it soak into the walnuts) followed by a baking process to further dry up the syrup so it would stick.
I totally forgot how good this recipe was until I made it again a few weeks ago. Aside from this tasting delicious (which, of course it’s going to, it’s maple syrup), I’m always impressed with how the cooking process prevents the roasted walnuts from being too sticky. If you try this, you might question storing it in a jar, like I did at first, because you’d think all the walnuts would stick together as one big clump. But as long as you follow the directions, they stay in their sweet little bubbles and are easy to pull out (and serve).
An added benefit of this recipe is, it only requires 2.5 ingredients (salt being the .5). So you don’t have to stock up on a bunch of items and then slave over an elaborate dish for hours. Even if you go with a different nut (this recipe is how I found out my father-in-law was not a big walnut fan, which was hilariously tragic), it should taste just as wonderfully sweet and nutty. Plus, the aroma of maple syrup filling up the house is divine.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups shelled, halved walnuts
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- Dash of salt
Instructions:
- Combine ingredients in skillet and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Scoop nuts onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper (don't pour, as this will transfer the loose syrup causing it to get really sticky). Spread the nuts out so they're not touching each other too much.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool. Then break apart any clumps and serve!
When starting this, make sure you’re using pure maple syrup (100%), because if you use the syrup people usually put on pancakes, it might not turn out as well. Other than that, I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
The original version of this post was published on Jan 12, 2015.
One nut I don’t care for is walnuts! But maybe flavoring them up will do the trick 😉
Oh no! Well you could easily make these with any nut. Pretty sure any kind would taste delicious smothered in maple goodness.
ooh so simple but good! Thanks for sharing I love nuts!
Looking forward to trying this! Sounds good!
I like that this is an easy experiment. Walnuts are so very healthy for you but they’re not my favorite – bad Dietitian!
One of my favorite easy experiment recipes is baking chickpeas – add some garlic powder, onion powder and paprika to canned, drained chickpeas on a cookie sheet and let them bake until they dry out a bit. What a yummy snack!
Yes! I’ve tried roasted chickpeas before, but I’ve always made them sweet. I’ll have to try more savory spices like that. 🙂
This is wonderful, I would definitely try this out as a gift idea come holiday season. Where would they be best kept after bottling?
I just kept them at room temperature for a week or so, and they were just fine.