Recipe: Honey Chili Roasted Almonds

Honey Chile Roasted Almonds

2 C raw almonds

1/4 C brown sugar
Pinch salt

2 Tbs water
2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs almond oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground roasted chile (more or less depending on heat)
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375

1. Toast almonds lightly in a dry skillet until fragant; don't allow to brown
2. Combine brown sugar and salt in a prep dish, set aside
3. In a large saucepan, bring water, oil, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, & chile to a light boil; stir in almonds and cook until the liquid has been mostly absorbed by the nuts
4. Transfer almonds to a large mixing bowl, sprinkle with sugar/salt mixture to coat
5. Turn almonds out flat on a lined cookie sheet; finish in the oven for 6-7 minutes or until the coating is glossy
6. Allow nuts to cool completely on parchment or waxed paper

Tips:
1) depending on your oven and your preferences, you may want to go down to 350 for less carmelization;
2) the chile will not be terribly noticeable up front, but rather comes in at the very end in a kind of warm finish

Nutrition info (my best estimates)
Serving size: approximately 1/4 cup of nuts
Servings per recipe: 8-9
Total grams of carbohydrate per serving: about 8

About Carbohydrates
One serving of nuts is appoximately 1/4 C. Two of these equals roughly 16g of carbohydrate, or one carb "unit" in the carb counting world of diabetes. Other common foods that are one carb unit (and, yes, direct metabolic equivalents to two servings of these almonds): one slice of bread, two Oreo cookies, 4 oz of orange juice, 1/2 a standard package of plain M&Ms.