2015 Recipe Chase | Candied Pecans

I'm pretty sure that when you combine brown sugar and cinnamon you're transported into heaven.

Like, wham, bam, hello Jesus.

These pecans are delectable. They would be my kind of drug. I mean, delicious? Check. Extremely addicting? DOUBLE CHECK.

You can pretty much use any nuts with this recipe, I just had pecans on hand. My sister-in-law made an almond version for Christmas. I ate the entire container. Poor Ryan had crumbs. Until I ate those too.

These would be the easiest and best tasting gift ever. Husband? Take note!

Candied Pecans

Makes: 20, 1 oz servings

Prep Time:  5 min          Oven Time: 60 min

Ingredients

16 oz   pecans (or your favorite nut)
  1        egg white
½  cup brown sugar
½  cup white sugar
 1 tbsp cinnamon
 2   tsp vanilla extract
½   tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or cooking spray).
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg white until foamy. Add the pecans and mix until the pecans look wet.
3. In the bowl, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Layer the pecans onto the baking sheet in a single layer and bake for one hour, stirring every twenty minutes. The nuts will still seem wet after the first twenty, done after the second, but crispy after the last.
5. Allow the nuts to cool in the pan for two hours (or overnight) before eating.

Calories: 97 per serving

This recipe was inspired by my sister-in-law and Instructables.

Can someone figure out how much it would take to overdose on these? I'll eat one less.

2015 Recipe Chase | Apple Chips

This year, I made a resolution to try fifty-two new recipes.

I've gone a little crazy and tried at least a dozen new recipes. So I'm amending my resolution. To finding fifty-two new recipes worth keeping. 

I think that's the best way to expand my list of rotating recipes. Andddd I get to try all these new fancy things. Like apple chips. Who knew they were so fantastic?

They're totally healthy too. I mean apples? Fruit. Lemon juice? Zero calories. Cinnamon? Helps fight the common cold. Brown sugar? Well, that's just delicious.

Apple Chips

Makes: 1 Snack

Prep Time: 15 min          Bake Time: 120 min          Cool Time: 60 min

Ingredients

1 hearty apple (like red or golden delicious)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 220° F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon, breaking up the brown sugar as much as possible to fully combine the spices. Pour the lemon juice in a separate bowl. 

3. Using a mandolin (or super awesome cutting skills), thinly slice the apple (1/8" to 3/16" thick).

4. Dip the apple slices in the lemon juice to wet both sides before coating with the brown sugar mixture. You may need to rub the coating to get it to an even appearance.

5. Place the apples on your baking sheet close together but not touching and bake for one hour.

6. Flip the apples and bake for another hour.

7. Remove from oven and let the apples cool in the pan for an hour before handling.

8. Once cooled the slices should have a fruity, leathery texture. They're perfect for snacks and you can store them in tupperware for a few days. (Mine were gone in three so I'm not sure after that!)

Calories: 200

This recipe was inspired by The Italian Dish and Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity.

This is the perfect snack to take to work and make all your coworkers jealous. Unless you share. Then you're their hero and they beg you for the recipe. True story. It happened on Monday.

Don't you want to be a hero? Make these this weekend, you totally won't regret it.