Brown Sugar Candied Walnuts

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Oven roasted and tossed in piping hot brown sugar and butter; these brown sugar coated walnuts are perfect on salads, cheese boards or eaten out of the hand. These candy coated roasted walnuts are one of the main ingredients in my Fall Salad with Kale, Apple and Blue Cheese Crumbles. Roasting the walnuts before coating in the hot brown sugar brings out a deep nutty flavor and adds a crunch to the nuts. This recipe is a mainstay in my kitchen throughout the fall months; an equally perfect after school snack and a crunchy salty sugar fix when breezing thru the kitchen close to dinner time.

Why Roast the Walnuts Before Sugar Coating?

Roasting the walnuts before coating in the brown sugar and butter coating brings out a deep nutty flavor and evaporates the moisture in the nuts. This creates a crunchy texture and helps the coating cling to the walnuts.

Ingredient Notes

A couple of quick notes on the simple (and few!) ingredients in this stovetop candied walnuts recipe.

Walnuts: This recipe uses whole walnuts, you can substitute walnut halves, but steer clear of walnut pieces for this recipe. They will roast (and burn) using the cook times provided and clump in the sugar coating.

Butter: This recipe uses unsalted butter. But if you enjoy a little salt, salter butter works just as well.

Brown Sugar: Use dark brown sugar for this one. Dark brown sugar has a deep caramel flavor; this is a perfect coating for the oven roasted walnuts.

Recipe Steps

The steps for this recipe are few, but the technique here is all about timing. You want to watch the nuts when they are roasting and time it exactly. Nuts burn in an oven easily, so keep a watchful eye. On the opposite side of this recipe (stove top) the technique is the same; keep a watchful eye, this recipe uses high heat over a burn to create a quick sugar coating.

Cover baking sheet in parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Layer walnuts over evenly.

Roast walnuts for 10 minutes, making sure to check the oven periodically to ensure the nuts do not burn.

In saucepan, heat butter over medium heat until melted.

As soon as butter is fully melted, add brown sugar, stirring vigorously until all granules are dissolved.

Immediately add in walnuts, stirring quickly to coat. As soon as walnut are coated dump entire pan back onto parchment paper covered baking sheet and let cool.

Candied Walnut Uses

These sweet, crunchy nuts are perfect on a variety on snacks and salads. Below are few of my favorite ways to use them.

• Top a classic fall apple, kale and blue cheese salad, this gives the salad a sweet crunchy texture.
• Add oven roasted candied walnuts to a cheese plate, these work on a cheese board with cheddar and my Apple Cider Spiced Jam.
• Eaten out of hand or given neatly wrapped as a gift.

Tips for Success

This recipes ingredients are simple, obtaining a sugar coated, crispy result is all in the technique.

Keep the heat of the pan moderate, brown sugar burns fast, constant stirring and diligent attention are crucial to success.

As soon as the roasted walnuts are coated in the sugar, remove from pan and spread evenly on the parchment paper covered sheet pan. I re-use the same pan/parchment paper from roasting the walnuts to reduce waste.

Let the oven roasted candied walnuts cool completely so they crisp up and hard candied shell hardens, creating a crunchy shell.

Storage

Keep these nuts in airtight container for up to an week.