Spiced Candied Pecans
Sweet and warmly spiced candied pecans with cinnamon, allspice, and a hint of cayenne. A crowd-pleasing holiday snack.
- 4 cupspecan halves
- 1 cupgranulated sugar
- 1 tspground cinnamon
- 1/2 tspground allspice
- 1/2 tspsalt
- 1/8 tspcayenne pepper
- 1 largeegg white
- 1 tbspwater
- 1 tspvanilla extract
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. These actually improve after a day as the coating sets completely.
- 1Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2Whisk together sugar, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and cayenne in a small bowl.
- 3In a large bowl, whisk egg white with water until frothy. Stir in vanilla.
- 4Add pecans to egg white mixture and toss until evenly coated.
- 5Sprinkle spiced sugar over pecans and toss thoroughly to coat.
- 6Spread pecans in a single layer on prepared baking sheet.
- 7Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until dry and fragrant.
- 8Cool completely on the baking sheet. Break apart any clusters.
Candied and spiced pecans draw on two distinct culinary traditions that converged in the American South. The pecan itself is native to North America — its name derives from an Algonquin word meaning a nut that requires cracking with a stone — and was a staple food for Native American communities in the south-central United States for centuries. The tradition of sugar-coating nuts traces to 17th-century France, where Chef Clément Lassagne reportedly created the first praline for French diplomat César duc de Choiseul, comte du Plessis-Praslin, using caramelized almonds. When French settlers arrived in Louisiana in the early 18th century, almonds were scarce but pecans were abundant, so local cooks substituted them, creating the New Orleans pecan praline tradition. Spiced candied pecans are a modern variation of this heritage, adding warm spices like cinnamon and cayenne to the sweet coating.