How to Make Candied Pecans (for snacking or salads!)

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Looking for a last minute festive addition to your upcoming holiday meal? These sweet and spicy candied pecans are perfect to nibble on or add to salads! Vegan Candied Pecans | danicaliforniacooks.com So I made these candied pecans and then put them away for use at a later date - I didn’t even sample because I was so busy running around that Sunday! Then I made a massaged kale salad with these sprinkled on top and two thoughts went through my mind - “holy cow, these are amazing” and “oh crap, now I have a whole bag of these in my pantry just WAITING to be eaten”. I can see these being great last-minute additions to a holiday meal, or just to store to have around to sprinkle on fancy salads that you bring to a friend’s house.

On another note, I hope that as you are reading this you are enjoying the start to your Christmas festivities and that everyone (celebrating xmas or not!) is about to take some serious time off and relax. I’ll be working at client site until 8pm today, womp womp. I do plan to wear a festive (read: ugly) sweater. Please send me a tweet or text (or two, or five) to include me in your holiday activities, as I will be surrounded my cubicles. Tomorrow I go on vacation to China with my family and Nate, however!

Vegan Candied Pecans | danicaliforniacooks.com I’m guessing you have most of these ingredients in your pantry already, except maybe not the pecans. All it takes is a little coconut oil, some maple syrup, some brown sugar, some cinnamon, a pinch (or two!) of cayenne, and some salt. You bake these babies for 10 minutes and voila! Toasted, crunchy, sweet and salty candied pecans. Be careful not to overbake these guys - nuts are finicky when it comes to the oven since they can easily get over roasted real fast. I actually like the way nuts taste when they are a liiiittle over-toasted, because they are almost buttery at that point.
Vegan Candied Pecans | danicaliforniacooks.com Pecans are kind of an under-the-radar nut. I was kind of curious on the nutrition of pecans, since it really is an almond and cashew world right now. I think even walnuts come before pecans in most people’s book! So let’s take a look at what pecans have to offer. Pecans are fattier than just about any other nut. If you compare them to almonds, they are higher in calories, and lower in carbs and protein. They do have lots of fiber, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins (as do most nuts and plants). I think the fat content helps them roast really well, and you only need a small handful to really add depth and flavor to a trail mix or salad.

Vegan Candied Pecans | danicaliforniacooks.com These candied pecans got rave reviews all around - and they taste really special and fancy. And the best part about it is that they are so easy to make! See the recipe below - I look forward to hearing about how you incorporate them into your meals. Perhaps sprinkled on some greek yogurt for a more decadent breakfast on Christmas morning…? Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Happy holidays!

How to Make Candied Pecans (vegan - for snacking or salads!)
 
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How to make candied pecans using coconut oil, lots of spices and flavorful sugars for a fantastic snack or addition to a salad.
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Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of halved pecans
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil (softened into a liquid - I used the microwave)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 pinches of cayenned
  • 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Set your oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Mix the pecans with the maple syrup and coconut oil in a large mixing bowl
  3. Add the dry ingredients, and mix carefully to not break the pecans
  4. Lay out on a baking sheet
  5. Bake for 10 minutes, checking to make sure they don't over roast
  6. Let cool and enjoy!
Notes
These will store up to several months (like any nut) in a plastic sealed bag or mason jar in your pantry.

Vegan Candied Pecans | danicaliforniacooks.com

Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas (gluten free)

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Many thanks to all your feedback on yesterday’s post - I really appreciated and enjoyed all who reached out to share their own stories and with questions! Now on to the good stuff….

Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas | danicaliforniacooks.com Everyone has a go-to 3pm snack, and for a while on one of my work teams, it was these cinnamon-sugar roasted almonds. We somehow justified scarfing down the entire jar of them in one thirty-minute meeting because they were “almonds”. So let me introduce to you a much lower calorie, much lower in fat version of those candied nuts. But first, I want to spend just a couple of more minutes talking about the two wonderful ladies who made up this team alongside me for half a year. We shared laughs, tears, (way more) than just sugared almonds, and are now the closest of friends outside of work. We actually talked about roasted chickpeas once! So in honor of them, let me introduce to you these Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas!

Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas | danicaliforniacooks.com Roasted savory chickpeas are all the rage these days. If you roast them with a little salt and pepper, they make excellent crouton subsitutions in salads. They hold up wonderfully in soups instead of crackers. You can sprinkle Parmesan cheese on them, or roast them with a little rosemary. You can pack them for a high-protein, no-processed snack for in the middle of the day. Or, you can turn them into DESSERT. Hello, yes, obviously best option.

Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas | danicaliforniacooks.com These really couldn’t be easier to make. Roast at 400 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, checking for crunchiness levels throughout. Let them cool before you cover in melted honey and cinnamon. They will be a little sticky, so if you really would prefer to package them up and take them to work I would recommend swapping out the honey for your choice of sugar with a little oil to hold it together - maybe a little powdered Stevia with coconut oil, etc. Once those ingredients are combined, you have yourself a lovely little snack that will last several days. I would say that these crunchy delights are A-OK in my book (see below). However…grandma didn’t think they were sweet enough. I really think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and stop gifting these healthy treats to grandma and just bake her some Tollhouse cookies like she wants!

Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas | danicaliforniacooks.com Enjoy - I look forward to hearing the different variations that you all make up!

Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas
 
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How to roast chickpeas to crunchy perfection and turn them into a low-calorie, low-fat dessert!
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Ingredients
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried
  • Oil spray of choice (olive, canola, coconut)
  • 1½ tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp melted honey (use the microwave)
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F
  2. Spread your chickpeas on a baking sheet
  3. Spray with your oil of choice
  4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, checking for crunchiness
  5. Once at optimal crispy level, take them out of the oven at let cool
  6. In a large mixing bowl, stir chickpeas with cinnamon
  7. Mix in honey
  8. Enjoy right away, or save for later!

 Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas | danicaliforniacooks.com

Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Quickbread

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Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Bread | danicaliforniacooks.com

This wholesome quickbread is super moist, has wonderful texture and flavors, and photographs SO BADLY. I must have tried a couple of different lightings, backdrops and settings and I really could not capture the loveliness that is this loaf. We had a bunch of extra apples lying around that were starting to look kind of sad, and I wanted to make use of them with the ingredients that I already had in my kitchen. This recipe comes together so easily in one mixing bowl, and then you can enjoy the way your house smells of apples and cinnamon as it sits in the oven. So, let’s ignore the less-than-stellar headshots of this baked good. If this quickbread showed up on your Tinder app, you would be closing off a world of possibilities if you swiped “no” to the left. Swipe right, friends, swipe right!

Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Bread

So now that that analogy was made and published in the blogosphere, let’s talk about the ingredients of this recipe. Dry ingredients are simple - whole wheat flour, lots and lots of cinnamon, baking soda and powder, and your nut of choice. I went with pecans, but I would highly recommend walnuts. Then add your wet ingredients - freshly grated apples, one egg, a touch of maple syrup and some applesauce and vanilla. Note that this bread dough will be pretty thick, and almost knead-able. I was worried that it would come out dry when I originally whipped it together, but I can assure you that it was not. I can’t wait to pair it with the Vanilla Apple Butter recipe that Huckleberry Cafe had posted on it’s walls that I previously mentioned!

Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Bread | danicaliforniacooks.com

This bread would be wonderful covered in peanut butter and banana for breakfast, or a small slice with some tea in the afternoon. It’s great to grab a nibble here and there while you are cooking other things! It also makes a wonderful gift - I packaged half of this loaf and delivered it to my grandma. She was quite hesitant when I told her there was no butter and oil (and also told me that I didn’t need to bring over so many “healthy” recipes. I think I need to take the hint and use this as an excuse to make something decadent. Any grandma dessert ideas? Please pass along!) She still gave this recipe a thumbs up, as do I.

Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Quickbread
 
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This easy whole wheat quickbread includes lots of freshly grated apples and cinnamon. It is moistened with no oil or butter,,just applesauce!
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Serves: 1 loaf
Ingredients
  • DRY
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup chopped nuts
  • 1 tbsp (or more!) cinnamon
  • WET
  • 2 cups grated apples
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
  3. Add in wet ingredients, and mix well
  4. Spread evenly in a greased loaf pan (I used 9x5)
  5. Sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top, if desired!
  6. Bake for 30-45 minutes (or until a toothpick/knife comes out clean)
Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Bread