Spicy nuts with sugar; This recipe for sweet and spicy pecans is a simple and tasty holiday snack.

These nuts are a metaphor for my life.

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I have kind of a strong personality.  I prefer to see myself as sweet, gentle, kind, and thoughtful.  In recent years, I have realized that some people disagree.

For example, here are some things I have {mistakenly} been called:
Opinionated.
Assertive.
Pushy.
The meanest woman in the church congregation.
Controlling.

Well, that last one might be true.

Even my parents have said that, as a baby, I would scream inconsolably for hours every night, and that I would utterly refuse to sleep if there was anything at all going on in the house.

I like to think that it’s my fiery personality that explains my love of spicy foods.  I actually really really enjoy when the food is so spicy, it burns your lips and the inside of your mouth and throat.  Mmmmm… It’s one of my favorite things.

On the other hand, I’m also known to have something of a sweet tooth.  I mix the Kool-Aid kind of heavy on the sugar, and I like to frost the brownies.  And, well let’s face it, I have a dessert blog.  All this is because I am so sweet and friendly and thoughtful.  I’ve also been called “kind” on occasion.

Look, I’m working on the sweet side of my personality.  I’ve become a hopeless optimist, I work hard not to speak ill of others {it’s a work in progress!}, and love finding ways to be a better friend.  I deserve a little sugar on my nuts.

And thus, when I was deciding exactly how to make these magical metaphorical pecans, there was really only one choice.

Spicy AND Sweet.

And toasted, of course, because toasted nuts are obviously the very high-end best.

These pecans turned out basically just like me… sugar and spice and everything nice.  I can almost guarantee that the strong-personality types out there will love these.  And the gentle personality types?  Well, they’ll love these too.

Because I said so.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Mustard Pretzels

Pecan Sandies

Spicy Sweet Pecans

 

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Cook time

15 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

A lightly toasted, sweet spiced pecan snack.

Recipe type: snacks

Serves: 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 2 T. sugar
• ¾ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. cumin
• ½ tsp. chili powder
• 2 cups pecan halves

Instructions

1. Combine oil with sugar and spices. Add pecans and toss to coat.
2. Place coated pecans on a baking sheet, spreading into one layer. Bake at 300 for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
3. Allow to cool before serving.

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