Apple Smoked Spiced Nuts ~ Foamheart

[foamheart]

A holiday pleaser to be sure! These are slightly crunchy but not a heavy candy coating. The spices are perfect. AND that is right, there is NO cayenne! Even a little pepper would have intensified the sweetness too much. These are like Pop's breakfast sausage, try as we must, you just can't improve on it.

This is my first run with an old can I had of mixed nuts, I'll have to do another batch or two with just pecans or just cashews. Set these out at the party in those little foil cups, like cupcake cups. If you just drop a bowl full on the table, they'll all be gone in mins.. The little foil cups will make most slow down a little....LOL When I give these a way, its usually a cup or a pint mason jar full. Its kind of like giving away BBQ sauce, andouille, smoked sausage, hocks, jelly or fancy fruit juices.

I didn't take a lot of pictures.

Here I have whipped the egg whites and added everything else now about to place of the Frog mats. BTW I got my mats from Todd @A-MAZ-IN Going to have to buy some more too. What I have are cut for a MES30 I need mine now for MES40's. My first computer had a .5G HHD w/ 4 megs of RAMM. Could not imagine why I needed it all....ROFLMAO. Same with the mats.



Starting the smoke cycle



Found another mat..... I knew I had more!



After the smoke I brought 'em inside and used the oven to finish. There are no mosquitoes out kinda nice, but thats because its kinda cool.



After they started drying I pulled the frog mats and placed then on 1/2 trays.



Here is the finished product........ The house smells wonderful!



I will be doing more with pecans or cashews, I have a couple of ideas to try out. No change in recipe just some ideas on technique.

These are OK, with beer. Would be better with wine. I have never found anything didn't go with that good ole Cajun sipin whiskey, Jacque Daniels though.

 

[motocrash]

They look great Kevin,and no cayenne...better not let your fellow Swampers know you made something without it;)

 

[tropics]

Kevin nice job on the snacks
Richie

 

[crazymoon]

Foam, They look delicious!

 

[daveomak]

All of the above...

 

[foamheart]

I just realized I didn't post the Spice mixture........

3 egg whites at room temp
2T water
2T extract (Vanilla, Maple, caramel, butter pecan, coconut, etc etc)
1T Good cinnamin
1t Ginger
1t All Spice
1T Kosher salt
1.25C White Sugar
1.25C Light brown sugar
1/2 Stick butter
Approx. 64oz nuts.

Works really well together.

 

[foamheart]

They look great Kevin,and no cayenne...better not let your fellow Swampers know you made something without it;)

Thank you, the spice combination is pretty tastee.

Kevin nice job on the snacks
Richie

Thank you Richie. Pretty easy to make for the holidays.

 

[foamheart]

View attachment 347662[/QUOTE]

Foam, They look delicious!

Thank you.

All of the above...

View attachment 347662

Thanks Dave, pretty good stuff! Boy those nuts scorch easy and its hard to know when they are dry enough, because they come out wet and harden as they dry.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Very nice Foam, really like the looks of the recipe! Gonna have to give these a go!

 

[idahopz]

Looks great, Foam! Very festive for the holidays

 

[GaryHibbert]

I like these Kevin. How long did you smoke them for?? Hot or cold??
Gary

 

[foamheart]

Very nice Foam, really like the looks of the recipe! Gonna have to give these a go!

Thank you, They smell great, Sister came by and took what I had made...>LOL

Looks great, Foam! Very festive for the holidays

Thanks They always disappear pretty fast.

 

[foamheart]

I like these Kevin. How long did you smoke them for?? Hot or cold??
Gary

Thanks Gary

Whip eggs to stiff peaks, add extract and water, whip again.
Add all the rest and fold together. try to not deflate the meringue but it will not stay light and airy anyway.
Spread thinly on frog mats
Smoke as low as you can with good smoke for 2 hours. I use only my aux. smoker it keeps the temp down.
Then up to 250 for 45 to 75 mins.
Pull and let dry, they will crystallize while drying don't worry just be careful and do not scorch the nut meat thinking you need more heat.

Thats it. You can attempt to stir 'em while cooking but I pulled mine and brought to the oven for the 250 cook for better management. If you pull them om the mat too think you'll have to break 'em apart when you stir. At 250 I didn't have any scorching.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Thanks Kevin. I'll be home in a few days so I should be able to get some ready for Christmas.
Gary

 

[bluewhisper]

Nice. When I was a kid there was a department store with a snack counter that kept nuts like cashews warm under heat lamps. The aroma was heavenly.

Speaking of nuts, here's a tip: if you're shelling nuts, try using vise-grips to crack them. You can set the jaws to close only so far, and you're much less likely to crush the nut meats.