yummy stuff...

... P. made when she was on that 'home-made' gift binge a year ago. The delicious pecans with sugary-cinnamon stuff on them. I asked for the recipe and never got my ducks in a row to actually put it together to have some to give away before Christmas. Not complicated, but a bit time consuming, when you have to stop and stir, stop-and-stir, stopandstir several times.

But I sort of went crazy in the kitchen for an hour or so this afternoon. Starting with a recipe I found for a 'tamale pie', that obviously did not go over well. I often wonder: how can you tell if you like it, when you start off by salting everything on your plate, then liberally sprinkle on parmesan cheese, so it all tastes salty and cheezy? But we won't go there.

I asked after we cleared the table if it was something that might bear repeating, and he said no. So I won't share that a recipe here. There was also a dish of mac 'n' cheese that I will never make again. It was just sort of average, and I keep hoping to find the one that is somehow loaded with flavor and not loaded with fat: probably not going to happen this side of heaven...

But the one for the tasty nuts is in the oven. I must stop typing here, to go and stir.... Okay, I'm  back, and here is the recipe. She reportedly found it by googling, so I am sure you could locate any number of similar things to this one. I called to ask about the one lonely little egg white, as it did not seem like it would be enough to coat four cups of nuts, but yes, it does.

Candied Pecans
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed, I assumed)
1Tbs. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (I did not add this to mine)
4 cups pecan halves (will be a 12 ounce bag)
1 egg white, whisked briskly
 Preheat oven to 300. Stir together all except last two items, blending well.
In separate bowl, mix pecans and egg white, stirring well to coat nuts. Add sugar mix.
Spread on parchment lined baking sheet, separating as best you can. Bake 20 min, stir to separate, bake another to minutes. Coating will harden as it cools.
I've set the timer to go back and stir every 10 minutes, instead of 20, as I am now wishing I had used a bigger baking sheet, so I could have spread them out better before I put them in the oven, seeing that they need space to avoid being in clumps and stuck together when the sugar melts onto the nuts.