Knowing how to serve delectable finger food to your guests is a very handy skill, specially during the upcoming holiday party season. There are many different types of finger food that you can learn to prepare, but if you specially like nuts (and who doesn’t?), one of the things you could learn is to serve almonds. Of course, you could take the time to make it extra special by adding a little bit of spicy flavor to it. There are a lot of different versions of this spiced almonds treat, but here is one of the simplest and easiest ones you can try out:
Prepare the ingredients
You will need the following: 2 ¾ cup whole natural almonds (equivalent to about 11 ounces); 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon; ½ cup dark brown sugar; 1 large egg white, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, and salt to taste. You should also prepare mixing bowls and baking sheets for this recipe.
Preheat the oven
Crank up the dial to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (about 175 degrees Celsius).
Combine the ingredients
Get a large, deep bowl, and combine the cinnamon and the brown sugar. Stir them thoroughly.
Prepare the egg
Get another large bowl and place the large egg white inside. Whisk it thoroughly until it becomes frothy.
Add the rest of the ingredients
Place the almonds, vanilla extract and the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture you have prepared into the frothy egg white. Stir them in until they become thoroughly mixed. Wait for about 15 minutes for the mixture to settle and for the nuts to marinate in the mixture.
Prepare the mixture for baking
Get a baking sheet, and lay the almond mixture on top of it in one even layer.
Bake the almonds
Do this for 25 minutes or until the almonds turn golden-brown.
Prepare the coating
While you are baking the almonds, place the nutmeg and the cloves in a bowl.
Coat the almonds with added flavor
Take out the toasted almonds from the oven after 25 minutes, and place them into the bowl with the nutmeg and cloves. Toss the almonds around the bowl, to make sure that they become thoroughly covered with the nutmeg-cloves flavoring. You could also add a dash of salt, if you want. Do this sparingly, however, as your toasted almonds already have enough flavor.
Prepare some paper towels on a dish
After coating the toasted spiced almonds with more flavor, lay them out on paper towels. Leave them there until they cool down.
There you have it! These are the easy-breezy steps for making spiced almonds that will sure to be a hit among guests. Just remember: it’s best that you prepare these almonds about two days before you plan to serve them. Make sure that you store them inside an airtight container so that that they don’t lose their crispness. Also, you might want to try other spices such as ground cumin, garlic powder and cayenne pepper instead of the spices mentioned above, if you want more variety or a more interesting taste. Definitely, this is one of the easiest and tastiest finger food you can serve this holiday season! Good luck, and hope this helped!