Spiced Candied Pecans

Wowsa! It’s already the deadline for Cook the Books Club!  This month’s pick was the swashbuckling tale, Cinnamon & Gunpowder  by Eli Brown.

Here’s my Goodread Review:

Cinnamon and Gunpowder: A Novel by Eli Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a swashbuckling good time this one was! Wedge, Joshua, Mabbot, Mr. Apples - I loved the whole cast!

The story follows Owen (Wedge) as he is kidnapped by the vicious pirate Hannah Mabbot and forced to cook her a weekly gourmet meal (with the undesirable ingredients found aboard a pirate ship) in order to earn his "keep" on board. As the story progresses, the reader finds out that the crew of the Flying Rose is a bit more than meets the eye with their own moral code and dilemmas.

Additionally, Wedge finds himself questioning his past life and his own priorities the longer he aboard the Flying Rose and participating (often grudgingly) in their many adventures.

View all my reviews

I really enjoyed this one!  It was an adventure novel full of pirates and food!  What’s not to love?

So foodie inspiration...well...this one was a little tougher.  There was a lot of seafood (duh), but I don’t cook anything that swims (problematic).  I was contemplating some sort of cocktail (because pirates), when the very last chapter came in to save me.

Candied walnuts spiced with honey, rosemary, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and salt made an appearance. I knew they were meant to be.

The walnuts in the book were cooked on a skillet.  Since I am not aboard a pirate ship, I added butter and brown sugar to my pecan (because I thought I had walnuts in my pantry, but actually I had pecans) and cooked them in the oven instead.

These were so good that Hubs and I devoured the entire batch half an hour after they came out of the oven.  Yeah...they’re that good.  Thanks, pirates.

Spiced Candied Pecans

1 cup pecan halves

1 tablespoon butter, melted

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

⅛ teaspoon crushed dried rosemary

⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

A few cracks of freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment or silicone mats.

Pour the melted butter over the pecans and stir to coat.

Mix together the brown sugar and spices in a separate bowl.  Pour the brown sugar mixture over the pecans and stir to coat.

Pour the pecans on to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes or until the pecans are deeply browned.  Cool before serving.