Spiced Glazed Pecans

I eat a lot of salad (just ask my family)! One way I like to mix things up is by adding nuts to my salad; specifically, glazed nuts, to add a bit of a sweet crunch. I tried several recipes for glazed nuts that I found online, and all of them flopped. I mean, seriously flopped. The glaze would never stick – no matter what I tried!

Spiced Glazed Pecans are great on salads or just to munch on.

So, one day, I shared my eye-glazing, pecan-glazing, frustration with my mom. She smiled her warm smile, reached into a drawer and handed me a newspaper clipping from The Dickson Shopper dated November 1982. “Try this one,” she said, “it is good.” The newspaper was tattered, torn and splattered from years of use. Sure enough, at the bottom of the clipping was a recipe for glazed pecans with “*good” written in my mom’s handwriting.

I was a bit skeptical, but I decided to give the recipe a try. The result? It is not only good – it is fantastic! The glaze is a beautiful, glossy, dark amber color with a soul-warming hint of cinnamon and allspice. Better yet, the glaze completely coated the pecans and did not slide off! These spiced glazed pecans are great on salads or just to munch on (trust me, you will not be able to eat just one).

As much as I would like to, I can’t take the credit for this recipe. It was submitted to The Dickson Shopper by Mary F. Corlew of Kingston Springs, Tennessee. I am sure it is a recipe that has been in her family for years, like many good Tennessee cooks. Wherever you are Mary F., thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. And, let this be a time-saving lesson to you all – when in doubt, ask your mom first!

Makes: 12 1/4-cup servings
Calories: 116 per serving
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups pecan halves
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Directions:
Line a large cookie sheet with wax paper, set aside. Combine sugar, water, cinnamon and allspice in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add pecans and continue to cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pour onto the lined cookie sheet. Take two forks and separate the pecans into individual pieces. Cool completely, then transfer to a container for storage.

Now, how easy was that? Enjoy these glazed pecans sprinkled over my Spiced Pecan, Berries & Goat Cheese Salad!

Glaze will thicken into a dark amber color as it cooks…simply beautiful.

Separate glazed pecans onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper to cool.

Notes:
The original recipe instructions say to “place pecans individually on waxed paper;” however, ain’t nobody got time for that (pardon my slang)! Sure, go ahead and try this if you have perfectionist tendencies. Just be sure to work quickly, because it hardens into candy fast.

Also, if you are like me and keep your nuts in the freezer, be sure to allow your nuts to reach room temperature, before glazing, for best results.