My sweet & smoky almonds were a huge hit last week, so I decided to experiment with a little more smokiness. I’ve also had a bottle of good quality maple syrup sitting on my counter (thanks for the gift AD!), so I used the syrup to help the sugar-spice mixture stick to the nuts.
I was really happy with how these turned out, certainly more candied than the last time I made the attempt (although glazed nuts are still great too!). I love the sweet, smoky, salt combination here. Let me know what you think!
Note: This is one of those times that since you want the maple flavor to shine, you should spend the money on a good quality maple syrup and not the fake, corn syrup reinforced pancake syrup.
Smoky Maple & Brown Sugar Candied Pecans (Vegan)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup + 3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 lb raw pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sea salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Combine sugar, paprika, and salt; make sure there are no lumps.
- In a separate bowl, coat pecans in maple syrup. Add sugar/spice mixture and toss to coat.
- Spread in a single layer on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Cool.
The cost:
pecans: 6.49
other ingredients: <1.00
Grand total: 7.49
this would probably be significantly more expensive if you were to factor in the cost of "good quality" maple syrup. you should probably factor that in for someone who wanted to make this. just a thought:)
Great point–a good bottle of maple syrup would cost around 7.00 or so, and you'd need 1/5ish of a bottle (give or take) for this recipe. Note: Costco and other stores as such often have great quality maple syrup that is much less costly per ounce.
The stuff at Costco definitely isn’t the best maple syrup in the world (it is blended, produced at commercial scale) but it is good, and certainly good enough for this purpose. The catch is you need to buy a sizeable jug and from what I have seen at least in Canada they only have clear grade (similar to grade A fancy in the USA). I would normally use a darker syrup like grade B for a recipe like tihs. I’m not sure where you can find this cheap generally speaking. It is easy to find online though at a site like maple syrup source though.
I plan on using these candied pecans for a Thanksgiving salad. I love that these are vegan!!
Thank you for sharing your recipe! I am so glad I came across your blog. :)
[...] Smoky maple & brown sugar pecans are an all-time favorite [...]
I am a fan of all things pecan and maple, and these look spectacular! Thanks for linking up to gf holiday!
Wonderful website. A lot of helpful information here. I¡¦m sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks on your sweat!
Thanks so much!
I just bought a bag of pecans for $25….not inexpensive, but oh, so good! I love maple syrup so this sounds delicious! Just finished making buttery candied pecans with eggwhites, but will definitely try this one for my sweet vegan daughter!
Thanks for your great gluten-free recipes for me!
Dr. Donna