Recipe - Candied Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

A few things that bring back many happy childhood memories: apple picking, vegetable gardens, the smell of fresh pine, cross country skiing, and the smell of warm cinnamon roasted almonds!  I remember getting so excited to go this particular mall with my parents because I knew there was a kiosk in the middle of the mall that sold these cinnamon gems.  My mom and I loved these...and boy were we disappointed when we our cone of almond yumminess was empty.  Everytime I come upon these warm goodies I get so excited and scoop them up...but I do limit myself to one cone of almonds and I have to share them with my kids so that I means that I only get about a 6 almonds but man do I cherish the taste of those almonds.

Well I had a container of almonds that I purchased not too long ago but I tried to do the healthy thing and get the roasted, unsalted almonds. Well my husband and I did not care for these too much and hence they sat in their container for far too long.  Instead of tossing them, I thought maybe I could use these in a recipe of some sort....or maybe I can remake my childhood favorite cinnamon almonds.  And that I exactly what I did.  I read through a lot of recipes and most of them involved a larger quantity of almonds than I had and a large crockpot.  But then I found a recipe that didn't involve a crockpot and I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand so I tried that one (sorry I didn't save the link to the original recipe but I'll keep looking).  I did make one variation and that is that I added a dash of cayenne pepper to the mixture...a little sweet and spicy to mix things up.  And oh my goodness...the smell brought back all of my childhood memories and while the appearance wasn't like the ones I used to get at the mall, the flavor was outstanding...man these puppies are super addictive!!  My husband and I couldn't keep our hands out of the container.  We literally finished half of the container in the first night.  My kids and in-laws finished the rest the next day.  This recipe will definitely make it into my favorites folder.  And wouldn't this be a great treat to make for a dinner party or holiday party???  Yumminess wrapped in a spicy cinnamon sugary coat!

Candied Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups almonds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Combine the brown sugar, water, cinnamon and salt in a saute pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. (I added a dash of cayenne pepper to the mix)
3. Add the almonds and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid evaporates and leaves a candy coating on the almonds.
4. Pour the almonds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper. Spread in to a thin layer, separating the almonds if necessary.
5. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
6. *You can skip the roasting if you're using roasted almonds.