A taste of vacation

When my husband and I were in Florida in January we went to Fisherman's Village. It's a collection of little shops and restaurants down at the fishing pier. There were giant, beautiful yachts lining the docks. It was fun to think about what those boats had seen on the open ocean.

As we wondered through the shops we happened upon a small kiosk in the middle of the walkway. You couldn't miss it if you wanted to. The aroma of glazed nuts filled the entire area. It was heavenly. The gal was making fresh batches of cinnamon glazed pecans, vanilla glazed almonds, Cajun style mixed nuts, honey glazed cashews and so much more. We tried some samples and brought home two small bags of vanilla almonds and cinnamon almonds. They were a great semi-healthy treat.

When we got home, I got to thinking about making my own glazed almonds. I searched endless food blogs looking for just the right recipe. I finally found one that looked like it was what I wanted.

I made a few changes, as usual :) and whipped up a batch. They turned out AMAZING! The house was filled with the intoxicating aroma of vanilla and toasted almonds. If I could have bottled the smell, I would have. The best part? When I woke up this morning the sweet fragrance was still lingering in the air.

Jon tells me these little puppies won't last long. If I didn't put them in individual baggies, he would be right. These sweet and slightly salty almonds are so easy to pop into your mouth. We will definately be adding these to our holiday snacks list.

Here's to you and your culinary adventures friend. Cheers!

Vanilla Glazed Almonds
Makes 3 cups; Serves 24 (1/8 cup serving)
111 calories per serving

1 ½ TBS butter
4 ½ TBS sugar
3 ½ TBS water
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3 TBS vanilla extract*
3 cups whole blanched or natural Almonds
1/4 + 2 TBS cup turbinado sugar (Sugar In The Raw)


Preheat the oven to 225°F.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium sized nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the sugar, water, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; then cook, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves, for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Add the almonds and stir to coat.

Spread the almond mixture in a single layer onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Cool slightly and transfer to a large bowl. While still slightly warm, sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and toss to coat.

Spread out on a clean sheet of parchment or foil. Cool completely while stirring occasionally. Store in an airtight container.

* I used 2 TBS of imitation vanilla and 1 TBS of pure vanilla extract.