Maple Cinnamon Spiced Nuts
Give the gift of maple cinnamon spiced nuts this holiday season! I can think of a million reasons why you should have these at your next dinner party or why you should gift them to friends, but the most important reason is because they’re absolutely the most delightful holiday treat that smell phenomenal.
One of my favorite things about holiday time is the scent. You know, that nostalgic smell that brings you back to childhood or brings you back to a certain time. I feel like the holidays have so much SMELL. Cinnamon, pine, snow, firewood, peppermint; there’s just so much! It’s interesting how a specific scent can evoke so much emotion. Just like hearing that song on the radio that you haven’t heard in years; but as soon as you hear it, it brings you right back and you remember the exact time and moment and you can swear you’re there.
That’s kind of how I feel about these maple cinnamon spiced nuts. I remember going through the city or mall with my parents when I was young and smelling these amazing spiced nuts. I have always wondered how they were able to make it smell so good. I loved the sweet and spicy note that they gave off. It was a nice marketing ploy to have this amazing smell lure you to the stands. I never attempted to make them because I thought, if this is something you only really see at kiosks or street cars, it must be something that’s hard to make. Ha, my naive mind. Most food items are easy to make, which is why they sell them. After some researching and testing, I came up with this version and oh my gosh, you seriously have got to make this for every family member and friend.
Put them in mason jars and tie a red ribbon around it. Christmas gift, done. Stocking stuffer, done. And this is not just any old spiced nuts, these are marvelous. I don’t know how to describe to you how addicting they are. I bet you family and friends will ask you for these over and over again. And it’s totally up to you if you want to share the recipe or if you want them to think you slaved over this :)
Give the gift of maple cinnamon spiced nuts this holiday season! I can think of a million reasons why you should have these at your next dinner party or why you should gift them to friends, but the most important reason is because they're absolutely the most delightful holiday treat that smell phenomenal.
- 1 egg white
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 cups pecans
- 1 cup almonds
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl beat the egg white until frothy with the maple syrup.
- In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper.
- Pour the pecans and almonds into the bowl of the egg white and maple syrup. Toss the nuts and coat them well.
- Pour the bowl of the sugar and spices over the nuts and toss and make sure everything is coated well with the spice mixture.
- Pour the entire bowl onto the lined baking sheet and spread in an even layer.
- Bake for 30 minutes, occasionally turning the nuts so they don't burn.
- Store in an airtight container.
Posted on November 13, 2013
I love spiced nuts and could plow through this whole bowl! ;)
Cinnamon + Maple nuts are my favorite holiday snack! These look so good!
Julie, I feel like you made these just for me. Mwah!!!
Those spiced nuts look and sound great! What perfect gifts for the holidays!
Give me your nuts. OH YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
sooooo doing that soon ! love xmas scents ! actually just bought a scented candle called “merry Xmas” in swedish it is like Santa moved in in our living room !
Haha, that’s funny – make sure you have enough cookies! Maybe he’ll like these nuts instead? :) enjoy!
I need these in large quantities!! I would love to have these around during the holidays for everything from snacking to salads!
Great gift for sure! I bet the house smells absolutely amazing with these!
What a perfect gift, Julie! I’d have to make sure to make extra because I know I’d eat a batch by myself!
Julie – Love your recipes! The Maple Cinnamon Spiced Nuts sound great. How long will they keep? I wanted to make up some batches ahead of time.
Thanks Colleen! They should keep up to 1 month or a little more. I wouldn’t make them like 3 months in advance though..I would say 1 month is good!
I love these nuts! Wait. That didn’t sound right. :)
Perfect timing!! I was looking for Christmas ideas!! This is great!
Thank you!
Gorgeous, Julie! Your maple cinnamon spiced nuts looks as beautiful as they probably smell…heavenly! Love your photography here, girl. I must make several batches this holiday season. One can never have or give away enough sweetened spiced nuts! Thanks for sharing. Pinning tonight to group boards at Pinterest! xo
I can always go for candied nuts, I love it even more that you spiced them!
Such a cute and simple holiday gift idea! BTW I’m totally stealing that bowl when you’re not looking lol. And I totally agree with the memories. A song, a scent, a name or location – totally – good and bad.
Oh yes, you convinced me!
I feel the same way about the scents of the Holidays! Cinnamon and Maple and Caramel, Pine and orange all make me think of Christmas. I do love to give homemade presents and these Nuts look wonderful!! I just pinned you to my Holiday Gifts board!
These look incredibly addictive and what a great gift idea!
Okay, I`m SOOO making these. I snack on peanuts, almonds, cashews, etc ALL THE TIME. I would LOVE this.
I absolutely love giving these out for Christmas! I remember my mom doing this for neighbours, and it would make the whole house smell absolutely lovely. I’m definitely making it a tradition in our new home this holiday : D
I love candied nuts, and these look especially good.
Thank you so much for this recipe! These are going to accompany my homemade holiday gifts of bottled vanillas. Of course I’ll need to make a test batch first. Yum!
Thanks, Cindy! Your recipients are going to love it :) enjoy!
This look mighty tasty Julie. These pictures are so beautiful I can almost smell them. I’m picturing using these on a salad with a maple mustard vinaigrette and butternut squash soup on the side. Yum!
I could eat these sweet nuts by the bucket full!
I know exactly what you mean about nostalgic smells Julie! I just impulse both an enormous Christmas tree scented Yankee candle and practically burnt my nose on it, lol. I definitely cannot be trusted around nuts. Wait, that didn’t sound right…
Pretty sure I’d eat the whole batch of these before I even got around to giving them away to people but it would be WORTH IT. They look so yummy!
I’d love these on top of a salad, or just as they are but I love nutty salads!
Yum- need to try
Ok I need these in my life ASAP!!
These are calling out to me, yum! I bet these would get addicting ;)
Oh oh oh Julie!!! I made these last night as a trial run for Christmas gifts…just one word…AMAZING. They turned out so pretty and delicious…will work perfectly for a treat at our Christmas Party this weekend. Thanks for another great recipe and an even better gift idea!
I’m so glad these turned out amazing for you, Kelly! These are seriously one of my favorite holiday treats!!
Julie – I made these over the weekend and OMG!!! They are FANTASTIC!!! I don’t care for nutmeg so I substituted additional cinnamon and they still taste great. I was going to give some away as Christmas treats but now I want to keep them all for myself. Going to make another batch soon…..we”ll see if they last until Christmas! ;-)
So glad you loved this Colleen! They definitely didn’t last long in my house. I want to make a double batch next time :)
is there something i can substitute for cardamon? This is a very expensive spice and I don’t use in anything else. Thanks
Hi Joyce! You can substitute ground cloves for cardamom! Enjoy :)
could I use honey instead of the sugar?? We try and eat Paleo/clean. Want to stay away from processed sugar. thanks!!
Hi Amy, you could certainly try with honey but the sugar is what gives these nuts some of that crunchy crust.
Julie, these look amazing! And so easy! I’m going to serve them as an appetizer this Thanksgiving.
They’d be great for Thanksgiving!
Hi Julie! These look amazing, I would like to make them for Christmas presents. Do I need to buy raw almonds/pecans? I’m assuming I don’t want anything roasted… Thank you!
Yes, buy raw :) definitely not pre-roasted!
Sorry, I realized a second question. Can I use liquid egg whites instead of separating eggs? I’m planning of making a very large batch of these.
Yes, that will work!
Can’t wait to make this recipe! We featured this recipe in our Feature Friday blog post last week for Cinnamon and Spice Desserts! I hope you can visit!
I made these last year as gifts for all my extended family, and I’m making them again this year because I got so many requests!
Yay!! So happy to hear :) Happy Holidays!
Will this recipe work without the oven? I’m wondering if I could just set them out to dry overnight. (I burnt the first batch, even with tossing them frequently.)
No, it won’t work. The oven cooks the egg whites. If you just set them out, you’re going to be eating raw egg whites.
I made these and they started to burn after 10 minutes! I think the oven temp is too high.
They shouldn’t. I’ve had numerous people with success with this recipe, including myself, which is why I posted the recipe. How high are your oven racks in the oven? That could potentially be an issue. Sorry they burned on you!
Oh, also, forgot to mention/ask – were you cooking on them on 350 degrees Fahrenheit?
Yes it was 350F. I have a very similar recipe that calls for 275F for one hour and to stir every 20 minutes. I was able to salvage most of them and they are delicious, but some did burn.
The recipe is very easy and my house smells amazing! I will make the next batch (tomorrow) with a bit more sugar, these were not quite sweet enough for my taste, but they are very good as is and definitely addictive. Thank you!
Tried these on Christmas day. Loved it. I did tweak a little since I didn’t have cayenne pepper on hand, used paprika.
Family & friends loved it so much that the entire batch I baked is gone. Turned out as a perfect little gift too :).
Thank you, Julie!
Made them for a trial run giving them to family friends, co-workers. They all absolutely Loved them!
Thank You very much for putting up this recipe!
Giving them for Christmas presents, Awesome!
It’s gonna be a home made, personal gift giving year.. ☺
So wonderful to hear!
I am hoping to make these as gifts this Christmas. A question – Do you use pure maple syrup or something like Log Cabin? Thank you.
Use pure maple syrup!
Awesome recipe! Thank you for sharing. ☺
It looks so tasty!!! Amazing idea for Christmas gifts! Do you think I could use hazelnuts, walnuts, cashew, almonds instead of pecan nuts?
Thanks for sharing your receipt
Yes, you could really use any nuts you’d like!
Wonderful and simple recipe!
I’ve made these twice now. They are incredibly easy and super delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
Been making these for a few months now, absolutely LOVE them! Easy to make and loved by everyone. Made them for gifts and family.
Sorry for the delay with my feedback..Awesone recipe! Thank you for putting it up.
I’m so glad you like it!