Horchata Almonds

Talk about lucky - we were recently gifted a huge (50 pound!) box of beautiful raw almonds at work from a farmer friend.  I packaged some up for my boss who quickly turned them over to me because he said that raw almonds get stuck in his throat when he tries to swallow.  Hmmm, well that immediately made me start dreaming up what to do with them bake-wise:  almond flour? home-made marzipan? bear claws?  As yummy as those all sounded, it was getting close to Christmas so I decided to try some yummy, cinnamon-y, vanilla-y concoction of partially dreamed up, partially looked up, and alas, finally "named up" (by my sis):  "Horchata almonds."  What started as a search for candied almonds led to a sinfully delicious and easy flavor that my Mexi-culinary chef sis perfectly described as: "...these taste just like horchata!"

Horchata Almonds

*preheat oven to 250°

Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cold water

3 cups whole almonds (if raw - toast slightly first)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

-Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper, lightly buttered or sprayed.

-Lightly beat the egg white; add water and vanilla; and beat until frothy but not stiff.

-Add to nuts and stir until well coated.

-Mix the white and brown sugars, salt, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the nuts.

-Toss to coast, then spread evenly in pan over parchment paper.

-Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven until golden, stirring occasionally with a spatula to keep nuts separated, about every 15 min.  (Be careful not to overbake - nuts will start to harden and get crunchier once they are cool.)  

-Allow to cool completely, then store nuts in airtight containers.  Nuts will keep fresh for almost 1 month, covered.

If you have raw almonds as wonderful as these at home, just toast them slightly for a few minutes and let cool.

This is definitely one of those recipes where high quality ingredients make all the difference.  Try organic white and brown sugar for this - the taste and texture just cannot be beat.

The egg whites are beat just until frothy/soft peaks form (be careful not to overbeat.)

Gently fold in...

...and add your spices.

Fold carefully to blend...

...and make sure to layer on top of parchment paper that has been sprayed (on both sides helps it to stick a bit to your sheet.)  

I decided to package these in the container of my favorite Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream carton with cute honey bee ribbon.  Wouldn't you love to find these little gems in your stocking?  mmmmm  :-P