Monday, December 17, 2012

Live Acts of Pinterest: Crock Pot Cinnamon Almonds

I LOVE those cinnamon-sugar coated almonds that you often see at malls and festivals.  Whenever I see them, I try to limit myself to the snack sized portion, because I could probably eat a ton of them if I'm not careful. And, oh, the smell.  The smell!  So delicious.  I kept seeing pins for an at home version on Pinterest and knew I had to test it out.  



I perused several versions, all of them pretty similar.  I went with this one.  I had everything but the almonds on hand.  Tip: nuts are usually less expensive during this time of year due to all of the baking people do, and can be kept in the freezer for a good long time. Stock up!


Mixing up the magic. I could probably eat the sugar/brown sugar/cinnamon mixture with a spoon.  I am a giant sugar addict.  Actually, it would be delish on top of oatmeal or buttered toast.



Into the crock pot they go!  Now, keep in mind that although this is a slow cooker recipe, it is definitely not a hands-off type of recipe.  You need to stir these every 20 minutes for 3 to 4 hours in order to turn them from this:




To this:
This was after the water was added.  It kind of dissolves the sugar mixture a little bit and turns it into a scrumptious candy coating.



It's important to spread these really well out as they cool.  I thought I could fit them all onto one sheet pan but ended up using 2.  Some of them sort of stuck together, so I just gently tapped them with a rubber spatula to break them apart.


A close up.  So, these didn't turn out *exactly* like the cinnamon almonds from the mall. The coating is a little more crumbly and not as hard and crunchy. Maybe if I cooked them for the full 4 hours instead of 3 it would have been different?  That being said, these are quite delicious.  I bagged up half of them to give to our neighbors in a holiday treat package, and greedily kept the rest for myself.  I've been snacking on them all week, and even snuck a little bag into the theatre with me when we went to see The Hobbit.  I also plan on crushing a few of them up to try as a salad topping.  I think these will definitely be made again in the near future.    


4 comments:

  1. This looks delicious, but I'll admit I'd probably just buy some. They sound like they took a lot of time! Would you make them again??

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    1. I would make them again for sure. In fact, I'm thinking about whipping up another batch this week! They do take a while to make, but it's not difficult. This is a good "I'm at home doing other things and can be around to stir" kind of recipe.

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  2. Grandma and I made some really good one for Christmas the other week, I am pretty sure she got it out of " the bible".

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    1. She let me sample some when we were there for Ed's doctor's appointment! They were definitely from The Bible :)

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