tuesday tip: How to make Healthier Candied Pecans [with maple syrup/honey]

These Healthier Candied Pecans made with maple syrup/honey + egg white + vanilla + pecans [NO refined sugar] are a perfect snack for all of your fall snacking needs!

Jude has been having school via Zoom from New York and for the past few weeks they have been talking about Fall leaves and all things fall. I caught him googling fall leaves because he forgot. Yikes. We haven’t been here that long– But its true, there is NO fall on Maui turns out.

There are NO fall leaves, NO cold weather that beckons for a light sweater, NO impending doom of snow in the forecast, nothing! And well, something about all those ‘NO’s’ is quite enticing.

Instead, there are all things summer here….papaya….lilikoi…sandy beach bags….Costco snacks [ie that huge container of sourdough pretzels which appears bottomless….beaches….paddleboards…sunscreen…tanned swimsuit lines on little legs and belly’s and everything etc.

All those things are really great however, I wanted to remember that it IS November and it is indeed fall [somewhere].

And what screams fall like New York City street cart CANDIED PECANS?

I mean, Candied Pecans go good on just about everything—salads, ice cream, as a snack, on a side, in your mouth as a bribe to children etc. They are just good.

Since I have decided to not really eat sugar while we are here [mostly]…. I didn’t even purchase sugar at the store. Because if I don’t have sugar in my home [apt] then I don’t have to eat it! Easy as that. ha! Everyone knows that if there is sugar around, sugar will be eaten.

Thus came the creation of the

Healthier Candied Pecans [made with maple syrup/honey].

Although I wanted them to be ‘refined sugar free’…I obviously still wanted them to be sweet like the real deal. I also wanted them to be crunchy.

My first go at my Healthier Candied Pecans was to make them with coconut oil + maple syrup.

They were fine, but rather sticky.

I was curious to see if honey made a different and ALSO if I really needed that extra FAT content that comes from using the oil or if I could just use an egg white.

So, my next batch, I used an egg white with maple syrup & honey. And I was happy with the outcome. Although still kind of sticky, they were LESS sticky and didn’t need the extra fat content from the oil.

INGREDIENTS:

• egg white
• honey
• maple syrup
• salt
• cinnamon
• vanilla
• pecans

STEPS:

#1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

#2: Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl

#3: Dump in pecans

-depending on your sweetness level…you can add like 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup more pecans. The recipe calls for 2 cups but you could add more.

– However, the more you add, remember the less candied they will be. Keep that in mind.

#4: MIX

-when you are mixing, it does seems like a lot of liquid for the amount of pecans. Almost like the pecans are swimming in a sugary syrup…. HOWEVER don’t worry. When you give them a little stir halfway through, the bubbly goodness of the liquid envelopes the pecans quite nicely in fact…turns out there actually ISN’T that much liquid after you stir them.

-SO don’t add more pecans just because you think I measured wrong. I promise I didn’t and I promise you won’t regret the sugary syrup when it is baked on the pecans.

#5: BAKE and FLIP

-pour the syrupy pecans onto a pan covered with parchment paper

– Bake at 300 degrees for 20 ish min. Flipping half way through.

#6: LET COOL

#7: ENJOY

– As a snack

– As a salad topping

– On top of ice cream

– By the handfuls

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