Mo’s Chai Spice Almonds

Mmmmm. I love home roasted nuts. They’re healthier for you than store-bought roasted nuts mostly because you can control the salt (or leave them totally unsalted, which is what I usually do) and you know they are absolutely fresh. Hardly anything worse than rancid nuts!

I found this recipe on Joy the Baker and decided to make some. I did something unusual for me. I followed the recipe. Whoahza! And I decided that I could improve on the flavor. I wanted the chai-spice flavor to really jump in my mouth!

I made it again, this time with some additions. So here is my adapted recipe. Watch out. These are addictive!

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups raw almonds
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh coarse-ground black pepper
• 1 T honey
• 2 T maple syrup
• 2T fresh ginger, grated finely
• coarse sea salt and/or coarse turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top after roasting

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Plae a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. If you don’t have parchment paper, just grease the cookie sheet.  Grease the parchment paper with olive oil
3. Put almonds on the cookie sheet in an even layer and roast for about 10 minutes
4. While the nuts are roasting, mix your dry spices and salt together in a bowl.
5. Heat the honey, maple syrup and grated fresh ginger in the microwave for a few seconds to get them really yummy and runny.
6. Drizzle the nuts with the syrup/honey/ginger mixture and stir to coat the almonds well.
7. Sprinkle the spices over the nuts and stir again. Make sure all the nuts have some spice.
8. Roast the almonds again, this time for 6 to 8 minutes.  Check to make sure you’re not burning them.
9. Take them out of the oven and right away pick up the parchment and put it on a cooling rack. Break the nuts up with a spatula. The nuts will start to harden as they cool.
10. As soon as they are cool to the touch, store the nuts in an airtight container. If they lose their crunchiness just warm them in the oven for a couple of minutes, but be careful — too long and they will just taste burnt.
11. Serve with an ice-cold Guiness, glass of “Cupcake” Angel Food (white wine) or tossed on a green salad. Awesome crunchy delight!