Calvin's Nuts

Spiced Pecan Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1# shelled pecan halves
• white of 1 egg
• 1 tsp. water

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sort the pecans, culling out the broken pieces and bits of shell. I usually buy pecan halves at the grocery store, in 1-pound bags. There are always broken pieces enough for brownies or cookies or to munch on. Save the broken pieces for other recipes, but throw out the bits of shell. I haven't found any recipes that call for pecan shells and haven't any use for them.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves.

In a small bowl, beat the egg white with the water until it is a uniform liquid.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the pecan halves and egg white mixture. This is best done with your bare hands. Use a gentle touch so as not to break your nuts, but make sure they are thoroughly coated with the egg white.

Add the sugar/spice mixture, a few tablespoons at a time, as you gently stir the nuts with a spoon. Continue until the nuts are all well coated.

Spread the nuts into glass baking dishes. You do not need a single layer, but any more than a double layer of nuts will be hard to handle, later.

Put the nuts in the oven. Check the nuts after 10-15 minutes. When they start to take on a lighter, bubbly, glazing, take them out of the oven. Some will be wet with melted sugar mix and some will be nearly dry. With a metal spatula, turn the nuts in the dish and sort of mix them a bit, so as they all get cooked about the same. Put them back in the oven. You may need to repeat this one more time or two, depending on how wet the nuts were when they first went into the oven, how many are in each dish, et cetera. Check your nuts, often.

The nuts should be done after about 25-30 minutes, but may need longer to get the glaze right. DON'T BURN YOUR NUTS. You don't have to wait until they are bone dry, but you don't want them dripping goo, either. Turn them again with the metal spatula. The glaze will set up pretty firm when the nuts have cooled, and you don't want to have one solid glob of pecans.

Everyone has different tastes. You might want to try adding a bit of nutmeg or allspice, a few drops of vanilla or a tablespoon of bourbon...