Candied Nuts

Candied nuts are great on top of any salad.

Place the desired amount of nuts, broken or whole (walnuts, pecans, almonds or any nut) into frying pan. While the pan is still cold drizzle nuts with syrup (I use real maple syrup but you can try the fake syrup) like you are covering your pancakes or waffles with syrup. Enough to make them taste good but not smother them. Then heat and stir. When the syrup starts to boil continue stirring one to two minutes until nuts are sticky and well coated. Remove to wax paper and separate the nuts to cool. I usually make extra so that I can have them on hand when I want them.

If you don't have maple syrup on hand you can use white or brown sugar. I use about 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 1/2 cups of nuts. This isn't an exact science. The idea is to get enough sugar in there but not too much and to cook it long enough so that the sugar turns liquid and adheres to the nuts. Be sure to set the nuts out on wax paper and run water in the pan when you are finished, because when it hardens it is tough to separate and the cleanup takes longer if not accomplished immediately.
Liz