I like nuts, and I also like a Blood Brothers reference. Specifically I really like Cashew nuts. I also really like Cinnamon. Also it’s November so brace yourselves for me continually talking about cinnamon, cinnamon and yup, you guessed it, more cinnamon. I only did 2-3 posts about last year. THE SHAME! If you want to see them they are here, here and here. They are all tasty recipes that I still highly recommend. I will rebaking a couple of them this year.
Anyway, I’m having oven issues. The thermostat on our new oven is, to put it lightly, fucked. I burnt a batch of my Peanut Butter Cookies last week with the oven set to 140 for 5 minutes, and by burnt, I mean black. The tray was also too hot to hold through my oven glove. This means that the large amounts of baking and recipes I’d intended to be flooding you with are going to have to wait until this is fixed. I can’t risk things like cakes/cookies etc when I just plain can’t guarantee what my oven will do to them.
However, I can still do a few things, if I’m just very careful. For instance these Cinnamon Sugar Cashews don’t need to rise and/or won’t collapse in on themselves if checked often. So if I set my oven to 40 (FORTY, SERIOUSLY?) then it isn’t too bad. These make a great snack, any time of year, but I made them to take with me to the Battersea Fireworks display last Saturday, which was phenomenal. I also made a huge batch of Mulled Cider (it was tasty, but could have been mulled a tad longer, I was in a rush). I’m still experimenting with roasted nuts so used recipe from here as a base.
Other than the oven being tricky, and needing a bookcase plus bedside table (anyone got any spare?) I am thoroughly enjoying having my own place again and being a resident in Clapham.
And while I’m a Londoner now, I just want to give a huge shout out to the guys across at Leeds Indie Food, as they successfully got funded through kickstarter and their site went live this morning. Go check it out!
- 250g Cashews (pecans and almonds would also work, as would a mix)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup light brown granulated sugar
- 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
- Couple of pinches of nutmeg
- Couple of pinches of salt
- Preheat the oven to 150°C (I did it on 40 due to my thermostat being messed up) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Beat the egg white with the water until it forms stiff peaks.
- Fold in the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt carefully so you don’t knock all the air out.
- Fold in the cashews until they are well coated.
- Spread the cashews out evenly over the baking sheet and place in the center of the pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 45 minutes, turning every 15 minutes to ensure they are evenly roasted.
- Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving. These are great slightly warm but also just as tasty cold.