Maple Glazed and Toasted Walnuts

Sometimes the best Saturdays are those that are spent almost entirely at home not necessarily doing nothing but just being able to work around little things in the house with all the time in the world. We started the morning with a quick trip to Lovely A Bake Shop for some freshly baked chocolate croissants and coffee for breakfast before heading to our local fresh produce wholesaler to pick up some root and leafy vegetables, nuts, and eggs. Before heading home we stopped at the local seafood wholesaler and got some fresh scallops and clams. Armed with these grocery goodness, we were ready to spend a fantastic day at home.

Nuts find their way into our home a lot primarily because T absolutely loves them. They really are quite a versatile item. They are great as snacks or with salads. When chopped up, nuts are also great served as entree toppings. We bought whole unroasted walnuts from the fresh produce store that morning and a short while later we had some tasty maple glazed and toasted walnuts sitting in our kitchen. They were quick and easy to prepare. Simply good things can come easy, at least for these walnuts.

Inspired by Ellie Krieger's Maple Glazed Walnuts

Ingredients
2 cups unroasted and unsalted whole walnuts
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method
1. Over medium heat, toast walnuts on a medium size pan for about 3 minutes. Stir walnuts constantly so that they toast almost evenly.

2. Pour the maple syrup over the walnuts and add in the salt. Stir gently and often so that the walnuts are evenly coated with the syrup and also to prevent the syrup from sticking to the pan. Continue stirring the walnuts and turning them over occasionally until the syrup is caramelized and the walnuts are fragrant, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from pan.

3. Let cool on a surface lined with parchment paper to prevent the walnuts from sticking to the surface.

 

 

The walnuts goodness did not just end there. Lunch for that day were the scallops we bought that same morning from the local seafood wholesaler. Credit goes to T for the preparing the fantastically seared scallops entirely by himself. We chopped a tiny handful of the just-ready walnuts and topped the scallops with it. Perfect. The rest of the walnuts were saved for snacks and for salads.