Candied almonds are so handy to have around this time of year. You can give them as gifts, serve them at parties and sprinkle them on salads.
And in addition to all those things, you can grind them into a non-clumpy, non-grainy sweet almond butter. These almonds really are sweet, so if you do grind them into butter I suggest throwing in an equal part of unsweetened almonds to balance the sweetness. That’s up to you, but the candied almonds should transform into a creamy butter and not clump up, which is what always happens when I try to add honey or maple syrup to unsweetened ground almond butter.
So serve the almonds as is or grind them into butter. The original recipe is from Nielsen Massey. My family liked the almonds made with the full amount of sugar, but I think they might better with a tad bit less.
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups whole almonds
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugars, cinnamon, salt and cayenne pepper; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk egg white until frothy, then whisk in vanilla and almond extracts. Add almonds and stir to coat. Then add about 3/4 of the sugar mixture and stir well. If you feel like the almonds need more sugar mixture, stir in the rest.
- Bake at 250 for 65-75 minutes, gently stirring every 15 minutes.
- Let cool completely and keep in an airtight container.
Anna says
December 8, 2016 at 7:10 amI’ve never made candied almonds in the crock pot, but I just did a Google check and there are a few different recipes. Betty Crocker has one that’s similar to this one. Now I want to try. Thanks for the idea :).
I noticed they also have a recipe for Chex Mix made in the slow cooker.
C. L. says
December 7, 2016 at 10:36 pmcould you do this in a crock pot? if so, how long would you leave it on low?
Maria @ kitchenathoskins says
December 5, 2016 at 2:57 amLove the almond butter idea. We always stir in honey with regular almond butter to sweeten. This sounds very interesting!
Katrina says
December 3, 2016 at 9:24 pmMmmm!
Sonya says
December 3, 2016 at 9:57 amI love the idea to make these into a sweet almond butter, which also sounds like a great gift idea 🙂
Anna says
December 2, 2016 at 3:48 pmFixed! I meant to change that and forgot. I have almond paste on the brain because I need to buy some for Rainbow Cookies.
Jerry says
December 2, 2016 at 3:41 pmIt says almond paste in the description but I don’t see it in the ingredient list.