Honeyed Cashews with Kosher Salt
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 40 mins, plus cooling time
Active: 15 mins
Makes: 5 cups
By Adela Jung
These cashews balance the salty and sweet, keeping you coming back for more. In other words, they’re good bar nuts—the perfect accompaniment to your next cocktail.
Game plan: The cashews will last 1 week stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
This recipe was featured as part of our Bring Happy Hour Home story.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 1/2 cups raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
- In a large bowl, toss cashews with vegetable oil until well coated; set aside.
- Combine brown sugar, water, and honey in a small saucepan, place over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook until mixture has thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Drizzle over cashews and stir to coat.
- Transfer nuts to a baking sheet and spread in a single layer. Bake until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes, for a total of about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Sprinkle salt over nuts and stir to coat. Let cool completely on the baking sheet, and break up any large pieces before serving.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
Using maple syrup (the real stuff) instead of honey is nice.
A generous addition of black pepper is good, too.
I would say add dried chili pepper-- a little for everyone, more if people like spicy
They remind me of another nut recipe that I make during the holidays and give to friends:
1 Egg White, frothy - no liquid left
3 c. unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Tbs. cinnamon
2 Tsp. cumin
2 Tsp. salt
1/4 Tsp. nutmeg
1/4 Ts. cayenne
Mix well - turn on to parchment lined baking tins.
300 degrees - 15 minutes
275 degrees - 45 minutes - turning once or tw ice
I double recipe - and often make 3 or 4 batches.
Great simple food! I have a recipe very similar but it uses Smoked Paprika and sherry vinegar.
Great posts! Thank you!
I was also reading this and thinking that some spice would be good. How about adding some Sriracha to the mix? IMHO, everything tastes better with a bit of Sriracha!
Making them now. Not sure of the need for the oil. It seemed to make the nuts resist the honey/sugar syrup, but as the nuts bake, they seem to be getting more evenly blotched (not evenly coated) with the mixture.
Another 10 minutes will tell. 1/2 way through and the roasted flavor is right where I like them. Hope they don't over-roast.
they didn't over-roast. The coating hardens when cooling--found it best to keep stirring; even then, some nuts stuck to the sheet and broke. WAH! I think a silpat sheet is the trick to making these.
They are somewhat sticky if there is any ambient humidity. (we are at about 50%) Still like cashew crack, though. Best made just before a party, etc. Perhaps reheat in a low oven before serving.
Used a silpat and it was a piece of cake. The nuts were delicious!
i've made these twice and love them (as did my guests). i HIGHLY recommend putting "Non-Stick Reynolds Wrap" (not the regular kind! and, my apologies for the product endorsement, but it works) over your whole baking sheet before roasting them if you don't have a silpat. they didn't stick a bit and it made clean up super easy.
I've got to make these. My old roommate brought back some sugared-salted-cashews from Spain that were amazing. He let me have a few, but of course wanted to keep most of the small package to munch on himself. However, they sat in the pantry for weeks, if not months, taunting me, with their glistening white coating! I admit I sneaked a couple a number of times, but I had to stop when the the bag began to noticeable shrink. Oh man, I hope these are as good as those Spanish cashews. I'll have to try regular and spiced batches.
I used parchment paper and nothing stuck-- I also added 1 teaspoon of hot curry powder and about 10-15 grinds of black pepper, but only about 2 teaspoons of salt. Turned out fantastic!