Candied Peanuts

Oh My God I cannot stop eating these peanuts.

Friday, after reading Dave Lebovitz's blog, I decided to try his recipe for candied peanuts.

Let me start off by saying, I love candied nuts! I put so many candied walnuts in my fage greek yogurt that I end up with more nut than yogurt, and at Lacroix, I can't stop snacking on the candied cashews (that they make with honey) that go in a butter lettuce salad. This recipe is so simple too, all it takes is sugar, salt, water, and raw nuts.

I jumped upon seeing this recipe then ran to my local nut store (no not a grocery store, a nut store) and picked up some raw peanuts (Though I doubt I can legally post the recipe on my site you can get it here). I mixed the peanuts in a pan with sugar, salt and water then started cooking the mixture over medium heat. The liquid reduced and the peanuts became glazed with sugar. mmm, the further I cooked these the more I felt like I was on the Ocean City boardwalk. I closed my eyes and the cool ocean breeze was blowing in my face, I smelled peanuts roasting, and I was shaking hands with the famous boardwalk mascot, Mr. Peanut, who I still aspire to be. Sorry, I'll stop. I threw that in for my English teacher.

Finally, all the water evaporated and the peanuts were covered with sugar. I lowered the heat and soon a syrup began to develop on the bottom of the pan. I rolled the peanuts around, making sure to cover them with the bronze syrup some call care-a-mel (not me, don't worry).

Basically you can pretend these peanuts are you, and you're out in the sun. You want to get them as deeply bronzed as possible, without burning them. Now let me say this, both times that I made these since Friday (yes I made the recipe twice in three days), the peanuts have smelled like they were burning, however with no visual evidence of this, I continued to cook them according to the recipe. They came out fantastic both times. So if you smell a fire, don't call Smokey the Bear, continue to cook them as directed and they will most likely turn out fine.

After getting them as deeply bronzed as possible, I sprinkled them with cinnamon, gave them a final stir, and spread them out on a baking sheet to cool.

I ate one, then two, then almost half the recipe. These are soooooo good, and like Dave suggests, these make a great present to show someone you care. I gave these to my friend's mom as she was driving me somewhere (because she's always giving me rides) and my friend and his sisters finished them before I got out of the car. Making these peanuts may even be the trick to performing well in school. I performed poorly on my last math test and I'm getting some ideas of who I should give these to. At work, if you're competing for a raise, show off your domestic goddess and sneak your boss a few of these. However you choose to use them, I can almost guarantee they will be enjoyed.