Spicy Glazed Pecans

This snack is tasty, healthy, nutritious, convenient and no mess to your fingers to eat; quick and easy to make. It's so worth it to share with the world here.

Ingredients:
1/3 Cup sugar

2 TB. Water

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. Cayenne pepper

2 ½ Cups raw pecans

Other Materials:

Non-stick pan

Parchment paper

Aluminum foil

Cookie sheet

Silicon Spatula

Prep. time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 – 14 minutes

Cleaning time: 5 minutes

Serves: 4

If you feel unsure for doing something for the first time or are new to cooking, no worry. Follow along my step by step Instructable. I promise you won't stop making this snack after now.

Note: This article contains affiliate links as references for the same or similar products used in this project. If you click on the links and make purchases I could receive a small amount of commission from the affiliate company with no extra cost to you.

I used the one side parchment one side foil paper.

This step is for those who forgot to place pecans in room temperature the night before. So place pecans in a baking pan in the preheated oven to warm them to room temperature. Skip to next step if you have done the first step of this instructables.

Add the sugar, water, salt, and cayenne pepper in the heavy saucepan. Turn on stove. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Boil, without stirring, for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and add the (room temperature) pecans to this syrup, stirring for 1 minute until the pecans are consistently coated with the syrup. Transfer pecans to the lined cookie sheet, spreading and separating them as evenly as possible. Work quickly. Place in oven to bake, set timer for 10 minutes.

After baking for several minutes, when the syrup loosens up, wear your oven mittens, shake the cookie sheet to make pecans spread in one single layer on the cookie sheet.

Continue to bake until the pecans start to brown, approximately 10 – 14 minutes, depending on the oven. Pecans move rather quickly from brown to burned. Be watchful for the last few minutes. When browned, carefully slide the pecans onto padded placemat lined with aluminum foil to cool. Separate the pecans with chopsticks or a fork so they are not stuck to each other.

Note: This picture was taken at night under poor lighting. The pecans look dark becuase of that. But they are not burned. The picture in next step is definitely a better representation.

When the pecans are not hot or sticky to touch, separate them by hand to individual pecan halves and let them cool completely.

At first, I washed the saucepan in between batches. Later I found it’s not necessary. I keep using it for a few batches.
At first, I disposed the pan lining paper with hardened syrup after each batch. Later I found the syrup hardens to hard candy and cracks off easily. What’s more amazing is the cracked off candy tastes very good, it wakes me up and cheers me up every time I pop a piece in my mouth. I also use it as a spice in salad and cooking.

These pecans are great in salads, try it before they are gone. You’ll never eat your greens salad without it again!
To eat as a snack, have your kids take some to school to snack; fill pretzel bags with them, twist tie the bag and bring it to your work or on the road to snack; give them to friends and families as a snack gift to show you care and share.

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