I LOVE doing smoked cashews like this, but I bet pecans would be fantastic too:
Get a big jar of cashews or whatever nuts you enjoy from Costco
pure maple syrup (real stuff -- Aunt Jemima won't work because it's half corn syrup)
garlic powder
chili powder
cayenne pepper
dump the nuts into a really big bowl so you can mix them without spilling all over
Drizzle the maple syrup into the bowl and stir it in. Repeat drizzling and mixing until they are all just damp. The goal is to add just enough to lightly wet the cashews (pecans). If you have a bunch of syrup on the bottom, you used too much.
Sprinkle a coat of garlic powder and chili powder across the top of the bowl, and mix that in.
I repeat this sprinkle/stir step 3 or 4 times. The goal here is to evenly distribute it.
Then, sprinkle and mix in however much cayenne/habanero/ghost/reaper pepper you want to suit your taste.
My personal motto is they ain't hot enough unless they're hot twice.
Spread them out as thin as possible on a smoking mat or grate so that as the syrup solidifies you don't get a solid block of nuts.
I smoke them in my
RecTeq pellet smoker for 2 hours at 200F with the Amaz-n smoking tube, then turn off the smoker, and let the tube continue to burn.
Let it cool down with them still inside, about an hour or hour and a half.
Take them out, cool them all the way down and enjoy!
Here's the jar of cashews I get from Costco:
Here's 2 bags I made last week (two of those jars): You can see my smoking racks in the sink to the right.
Here's a close up showing the coverage I aim for when they are done:
tropics for getting this powder in circulation. Rich I'm so paranoid I used a glove to take it out of the package lol
www.thegrommet.com
