Flavored pecans

Jill found a basic recipe on the internet; we made a few small changes and settled on this one.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• Big pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons water

Bring to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.

• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cups pecans

Remove the saucepan from the heat and quickly stir in cayenne. Add pecans and stir to coat with syrup. Spread onto cookie sheet and bake, gently stirring to turn over the nuts every five or so minutes, until the sugar starts to brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven to cool.

We were motivated by satay sauce for this flavor. We're happy with how they turned out, but they taste nothing like satay!

Heat oven to 325°F.

• 1 cup pecans

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and toast pecans for ten minutes. In the meantime:

• 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (I like Pearl River Bridge brand)
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Pinch of celery seed

Heat, but do not boil, the soy sauce in a saucepan. Add the toasted pecans, and toss to coat nuts in the soy sauce. Sprinkle the spices over the nuts while stirring to coat. Spread back on cookie sheet, and toast until dry, 3-5 minutes.

Jill also found this recipe on the internet, and we refined the technique to use the same as for the onion and garlic pecans: replace the soy sauce with 1 tablespoon pulp-free orange juice, and for spices use:

• 1 tablespoon five-spice powder (cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorn).
• 2/3 teaspoons kosher salt

The (rough) cooking times are the same.