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2/9/12

Toasted Spiced Almonds and " bacon tease".

The other day I was reading a blog titled,  Is Butter a Carb?  It is posted by an Irish fellow, Liam who is a student living in Glasgow.  He had done a piece very similar to my Spiced Pecans, posted on 12/7/10.  He was using whole almonds which sounded good to me as I have a 5 pound bag of raw almonds in the upstairs freezer!!  So I gave them a whirl knowing the any kind of nuts go like hot cakes around here.  Our middle son Michael especially likes almonds and I am sure he will like these.

Ingredients:

1 egg white
1 t. cold water
2 C. whole almonds
3 T. sugar
3 T. packed brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. and line a half sheet pan with foil.  Butter well if using foil or spray with cooking spray.

Whisk the egg white and water well until it is very frothy but not stiff.  Add the almonds and stir well to coat.  Using another bowl mix the sugars, salt, and cinnamon then add them to the nuts.  Stir altogether coating well.  Spread on the prepared sheet and bake for 1 hour turning the nuts every 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.  Break up and store in an airtight container.

THE TEASE.  I WOULD HAVE NEVER DREAMED I COULD CURE MY OWN BACON.  But that is what I am up to now!!  Even as I write it is curing away, 4 pounds of it in my spare refrigerator.  It will be "working" for a full 7 days.  I have written the first half of the post chronicling why I am interested in this, the recipes,  the availability of ingredients,  and will conclude next Wednesday 2/15 by frying some up and reporting what I have yielded without any artificial ingredients or nitrates or other undesirable and harmful additives.  So stay tuned if you too love real bacon but not the nitrates.




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6 comments:

  1. TinaRBKFebruary 9, 2012 at 4:12 PM

    The almonds sure do look tasty. A spiced instead of sweet is a nice change of pace. Saving that recipe.
    I am really interested in the bacon thing-I have nitrates and rarely eat it because of that. Looking forward to your posts on the homemade cure project.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 9, 2012 at 6:27 PM

    Thanks Tina. I am really anxious to see how this works out too. I think a lifetime of chemicals like nitrates, some food colorings, and assorted things that I cannot pronounce or spell cannot be anything but bad for us!!

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  3. MarinaFebruary 9, 2012 at 7:09 PM

    Great post! I only have one question: where do you get a raw almonds? I've been looking for it for a while.

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  4. UnknownFebruary 10, 2012 at 8:32 AM

    I bought a huge bag, at least 3 pounds maybe more at Sam's Club. I usually see them there in the fall, pre Christmas. I expect they also may be available at GFS (Gordon's Food Service) stores. I double bag them and pitch them as well as other nuts in the freezer where they wait for me!!

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  5. Mary BergfeldFebruary 10, 2012 at 10:23 PM

    These really do look delicious. Like many of your readers I buy my nuts in bulk and always can use another recipe. This is my first visit to your site,so I took sometime to browse through your earlier posts. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you share with your readers and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary,

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  6. UnknownFebruary 11, 2012 at 9:38 AM

    Thank you so very much Mary!! Your comments are what encourages me to keep plugging along. Please check out the toasted pecan recipe and the Christmas brittle. (good anytime I am confident) Both are in the words of my daughter-in-law Julie, "Do agains!!" Enjoy.

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