Recipe: Coffee-Spiced Nuts

This recipe comes from a joint project a couple of years ago between Melitta Coffee and celebrity chef and cookbook author Trish Magwood. The ground coffee will give “additional depth and life to the sweet maple syrup, spices and natural oils from the nuts,” according to the chef’s notes from the original recipe.

If you can’t find Melitta, substitute any other South American medium-dark roast coffee.

Yield: 2 cups of nuts
 
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp Melitta Estate South American roast, ground

2 cups mixed nuts, unsalted (almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pepitas, etc.)

1 Tbsp sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together nuts with honey or maple syrup, spices and coffee, tossing to coat well. Spread the coated nuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes (be sure to spread out as much as possible so they don’t stick together too much). After 15 minutes, sprinkle the sugar over the nuts and give them a stir. Return the nuts to the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on baking tray. When nuts are cool, break them apart if needed and serve. Can be made a week in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Substitutions: Try playing around with the spicing; in place of the allspice/cayenne, try smoked paprika/ground coriander or cardamom/cayenne.

Photo: shivery