coconut oil Archives - dani california cooks

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! 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!

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.
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.

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!