The Perks of Being a Walnut (Candied)

2018 was just a really good year for me, bringing with it innumerable blessings, one of which being some nice holiday traditions that helped ease down the blues I normally feel toward the year's end.  Our most recent new tradition is that of making a cheesecake on New Year's Eve that isn't done and ready to eat until New Year's Day, making it a nice treat that spans the two years.  I don't actually know if you can call it a tradition until you've done it more than once, now that I'm typing it all out, but whatever, it was so awesome to have cheesecake for breakfast on the first day of the new year that it's going to happen again next December, see if it doesn't.

Anyway!  I wanted to make a special topping for our cheesecake and, while trolling through all the recipes I've saved over the course of the year, discovered that I had a recipe saved for candied pecans that claimed to be easy and quick -- 5 minutes, start-to finish.  After all the work and mess associated with making a cheesecake, that sounded damn good to me, so I got up this morning and set about making some candied nuts to put on the cheesecake.  Walnuts, because we like those better, and they're more bitter, making them a better balance for candying and putting atop a cheesecake.

They're . . . stupid-good.  Like, perfect-after-the-first-try good.  Where-have-these-been-my-whole-life good.  And they really are incredibly easy, and they take 5 minutes of your time to make.  I can't wait to make them as topping for my vegan chocolate wedding cake.  They'd make a great snack food to take to the new Star Wars movie, to add sweetness to what I guarantee is going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth (I'm not grumpy, nooo).  Heck, I'd put them in a salad and call it healthy, but that'd probably be a lie, so nevermind.

Point being:  make these, thank me later.  You're welcome in advance.

The Perks of Being a Walnut (Candied)

Ingredients
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp molasses
(or 1/2 cup brown sugar)
Scant 1/4 tsp salt
Healthy 1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 cup walnuts

Instructions (you may want to look at the original post for photos first)

1. In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, mix together sugar and molasses (or brown sugar), salt, cinnamon, and water.
2. Stir it around with a rubber spatula until the sugar has melted and the mixture has come to a bubbling boil.
3. Add the nuts, stirring them around just until they're all coated, then spread them out so they're in an even layer across the bottom of the pan.
4. Let them sit, bubbling, for 3 minutes.
5. Give them a stir.  If the liquid around them is still pretty liquid-y instead of sticky, cook them longer, stirring them around until the liquid has reduced enough to be like a coating.
6. Transfer the nuts over to a silpat or parchment and spread them out so they're not all clumped together.
7. Let them cool a few minutes so the candy coating sets up (this doesn't take long at all), then break them apart, as necessary.

That's literally it.  It took 7 pieces to top a small slice of cheesecake, and it was just divine.  I'm so excited.  Give this one a try!  It's seriously just the best.