Sweet & Spicy Candied Pistachios
Spiced with cinnamon, cayenne and smoked paprika for hint of sweet heat and coated with a layer of crunchy crystalized sugar, these sweet and spicy candied pistachios will quickly become your new favorite snack.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups / 226 g raw shelled pistachios
- ¾ cup / 150 g granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water, more as needed
- ½ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Spread pistachios into a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in the oven when you start your sugar mixture (it should take about 10 minutes).
- Whisk together sugar, salt, cinnamon, cayenne, and paprika in a small saucepan. Pour 1/4 cup water around the edges to wash down any stray crystals from the sides, and gently stir until sugar is evenly moistened.
- Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar comes to a boil; it will bubble up to almost double in volume. Continue to boil until sugar reaches 238ºF; at this point the foam should have subsided and mixture will be noticeably thicker. Remove from heat and dump warm pistachios into pot with liquid sugar.
- Stir and turn over pistachios until completely coated with sugar mixture. Continue to stir strongly; as the sugar cools it will begin to crystalize and clump together. Continue to stir until nuts are completely coated with crystalized sugar - the coating should look more like wet sand rather than a syrup.
- Dump nuts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spreading out and breaking apart large pieces. Let cool completely, at least 1 hour (nuts will get crunchier as they cool).
- Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week (if it's particularly humid, you may want to store them with one of those little silica packets you often get with freeze dried fruit or kale chips, for instance, to help absorb excess moisture and keep the nuts crunchy).