Candied Pecans with Grapefruit Zest

Every year , I look forward to candied pecans at Christmas time. My mom made them for Holiday parties when I was young and they always seemed to add to the fantastic glow of the evening. They are so goooood, too! I wanted to make them as teacher/friend/neighbor gifts this year but wanted to add a little twist. Enter, grapefruit.

Now, grapefruit and I have a long running dispute, which you can read about here. I adore, adore, adore the smell of grapefruit but cannot eat it. Blerg! I cannot tell you how foul tasting it is to me. I got it in my head that if I could give the flavor of grapefruit to these nuts, it might be just the middle ground I’m looking for. The flavor, but not the taste. And, it worked deliciously!

I wrapped the nuts up in adorable little milk jars and added some greens and holly with a bit of twine. Throw in a fun tag and voila!

Here’s the recipe, but I will warn you, they are dangerously good!

Candied Pecans with Grapefruit Zest

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cold water
1 egg white
1 teaspoon grated grapefruit zest
1 1b pecan halves

:: Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
:: Mix in a bowl: 1 cup of sugar, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t salt.
:: Mix until frothy in a mixing bowl: 1 t cold water, 1 egg white.
:: Add 1 teaspoon of grapefruit zest to the egg whites. Add the pecans immediately afterward as the citrus will deflate the froth a bit.
:: Stir 1 lb of pecan halves into the egg white mixture.
:: Add the dry ingredients, stir well.
:: Spread them over a cookie sheet with sides.
:: Cook for 1 hour at 225 degrees, stirring occasionally to keep from burning.

Let cool, and package them up. I usually double the recipe to get more bang for the effort!

Everyone was raving! yippee!