Spicy, Sweet & Salty Rosemary Nuts
Bon Appétit asked me to contribute a recipe to a holiday slideshow of their favorite bloggers (!) and I knew just what to make. Perhaps it says a bit too much about where my priorities lie, but the holidays demand festive cocktails, and unless you mean to make no bones about your endeavor to get schnockered (and sometimes, really, who can be bothered?), drinks call for snacks.
What makes the holidays seem special is making a wee bit more effort than microwaving a bag of popcorn when your friends come for cocktails. This snack should be ideally something that can be pinched easily from a bowl during the artful delivery of your friend’s story about the hilarious thing that happened in the check-out line at Walgreens. These nuts, I confess, have a lot going on. Consider them an embodiment of a season of excess. They are, as the title suggests, salty, sweet, spicy, and jazzed up with the pine notes of fresh rosemary. The heat and salt will make you want to take another sip of your drink, and continue to drink like that, missy, and you will most certainly further the munchies. It’s a rather mutually beneficial relationship.
I’m really honored to be in such good company in this slideshow, and want to thank Emily at Bon Appétit for thinking of me. And now, the nuts….
Spicy, Sweet & Salty Rosemary Nuts
makes 2 cups
2 cups unsalted mixed nuts, such as almonds, cashews, and walnuts
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
kosher salt
Toast nuts in a skillet over moderately low heat until fragrant. Drop in butter to melt, and toss and cook nuts in butter for a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the sugars, cayenne, and rosemary. Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly over nuts and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar caramelizes. Transfer nuts to a cookie sheet, spread in single layer and sprinkle with kosher salt. Once nuts have cooled, break apart the clusters and serve with super dirty martinis and champagne cocktails. Now that’s the holiday spirit.
Elizabeth: These look so tasty! Well worthy of one of Bon Appetit’s favorite bloggers.
4 years ago
sarah: Elizabeth, You’re sweet, thank you. And the nuts: they’re really good, I swear. Sebastian happily gulped up one of the cups here in a single sitting.
4 years ago
Kristina: Those look wonderful! They just might be enough to usurp the Best Holiday Snack Mix title from my usual favorite, which involves pine nuts and maple syrup. Can’t wait to try it!
4 years ago
DD: How exciting! Congrats! My sister made some nuts like these last Christmas and they were a huge hit.
4 years ago
MaryAnne: Sarah,
I HAVE to try these for Christmas with a kir cocktail.
You are amazing!
xoxo MaryAnne
4 years ago
Sarah: MaryAnne, I have been kir crazy myself lately. These would alongside a flute. XOX & Merry Christmas! S
4 years ago
Sarah: Kristina, Whoa, I don’t know if they can dethrone a favorite, but I do hope you like them.
4 years ago
LuLu: Well you are definitely my favourite blogger! These are going on the menu for my Christmas party this Saturday. Thanks so much!
4 years ago
geek+nerd: Those look delicious, Sarah!
4 years ago
sarah: Thanks, LuLu! And I hope the nuts are a hit.
4 years ago
Sara Rose: Ooooooohhhhh these may feed my sweet/salty cravings I get regularly right now. Can’t have them with a cocktail unless its tonic and lime right now, but they’ll still keep something growing inside me rather happy.
4 years ago
pbg: YES x 18000000 these look soooo good.
My friend Tom does a version (almonds) with whole fennel seeds and crushed red pepper. They are really great, sweet/hot, and the overall effect is almost sausagey with the fennel. Can’t wait to try yours, too.
4 years ago
EB: Sarah! Awesomeness!!
4 years ago
Lisa (Homesick Texan): Congrats on being on Bon Appetit! And I’ve been looking for a good spiced-nut recipe and since I have a rosemary plant that’s actually flourishing, I know just what I’m going to make!
4 years ago
sarah: Congrats to you, too, Lisa! When I saw what other blogs were in the slideshow I thought 1) I couldn’t have picked better blogs myself and 2) what amazing company to be in.
4 years ago
Sarah: pbg, yum, the fennel is such a good idea.
4 years ago
maggie (p&c): Saw this in the Bon Appetit slideshow4 years ago
Maggie: These do look good, but seem to have a debt to the Union Square Cafe bar nuts Nigella published– same exact list of ingredients, just in different amounts.
4 years ago
Sarah: Hi Maggie, I’ve never tried Nigella’s recipe but have heard people rave about it. The increased sugar and different cooking method here, though, lead to more of a caramelized syrup that coats the nuts, kind of like tarte tatin versus apple pie.
4 years ago
Lisa (dinner party): Hi Sarah,
I just found you through BA as well. Congrats! Love your site!
Lisa
4 years ago
Sarah: Hey Lisa, Thank you so much! I just checked out your blog and love it, too (especially the ‘Dear Abbey’-like column). Hope you come back often!
4 years ago
javacia: Congrats on this opportunity!
PS — Are you going to do the POP projects again? I sure could use something like that to help me with my winter blues.
4 years ago
sarah: javacia, you know, i’m not sure about the POP projects. maybe they will be reborn but in a slightly different way. let me think about it!
4 years ago
heidi: hey there!
This looks great and easy. Congratulations on your recipe dislayed onf BA blog envy. Well done.
4 years ago
Sivan Harlap: Hey Sarah,
I just tried to make these and, I’m not sure why, but the sugar didn’t really bond to, or coat, the nuts. Instead it just created these really tasty spicy little candy sugar balls. I didn’t have to break the nuts apart either, probably because the sugar wasn’t sticking them together. Please help! Any reason why you think this happened? I’m making a batch as a holiday gift. Altho this first batch I made is yummy, I don’t think its quite right..
4 years ago
sarah: Hi Sivan, It sounds like your nuts basically turned out like mine. The difference for me is that those “candy balls” (or, I guess I might say brown sugar syrup that hardens when it cools) adhered to the nuts and joined the nuts in clusters which I could then break apart. I wonder if maybe you just need to cook the sugar longer (I think mine took about 10 minutes). I hope you end up with batch you are happy with!
4 years ago
Sivan Harlap: aha! it worked!! yay! i started with a very hot pan, toasted a bit longer on a low flame, bumped the heat up when i added the butter and sugar. they look and smell delish! thanks sarah!
4 years ago
sarah: I’m so happy to hear that! Triumph!
4 years ago
Martha Uniack: A wonderful variation on this lovely recipe is to lower the brown sugar to about a tablespoon or two and eliminate the white sugar. Instead of cayenne Add 2-3 tablespoon good quality curry powder. Everything else the same. The combination of curry and rosemary seem odd but boy does it taste incredible.
4 years ago
pbg: Just made these to combat an awfully blustery minnesota saturday afternoon. Doubled up on herbs, used rosemary and whole fennel seeds. Also a pinch of pimentón along with the cayenne.
Nuts are cooling now while I mix a rye and soda. I wonder what’s for dinner…3 years ago
Laurie@My Domicile Style: Hi – I found your site today and had to share this recipe with my readers. Tonight, my husband and I will make these to have with our martinis! Yum. Happy Thanksgiving from N. Dallas!3 years ago
Carly: Made these tonight- love them! Can’t wait to do them again at Christmas and put them in jars with adorable ribbons and all that good stuff.2 years ago
almostveg: I made these for cocktails yesterday and they were yum. Thanks for posting the recipe.1 year ago
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