How to make the perfect candied walnut?

[abjcooking]

I had the fruit plate with the candied walnuts the other day at McDonalds. I wanted to recreate that at home with my own fruit dip. I wasn't able, however to recreate the candied walnuts. When I made them it was as if you had the sugar on the outside and the sweetness didn't go through the piece of nut. Does anyone have an outstanding recipe for candied walnuts that comes out similar to those that McDonalds has.

 

[middie]

abj i wish i knew the recipe cause i had that the other day too and it was goooooood

 

[HanArt]

No idea what the walnuts at McD's taste like, but this version was posted on the GW Cooking forum recently.

http://www.jsonline.com/entree/cooking/jun03/145364.asp

Spicy Candied Walnuts

These are wonderful and add a little spice to the salad. I made extra and snacked on just the walnuts.

Source: www.jsonline.com

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup walnut halves (I doubled the number of walnuts)

Bring sugar and water to a boil. Add the walnuts and then simmer on low heat for about 8 minutes or until walnuts start to soften.

Mix together:

1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Stain the walnuts out of the sugar syrup and toss in the seasoned sugar. I leave them in the bowl for a few minutes and toss again. Spread on wax paper until cool. Try not to eat them all. Save some for the salad.

~Ann

 

[designerobsessed]

candied walnuts

Wow, Ann do those sound good!! Great on any kind of salad. I'm printing it out now. So, the fruit plate from McDonalds is that good?

 

[middie]

okay abj. i found this on diamondofcalifornia.com. sounds close to what you're looking for

1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups walnuts, halved or large pieces

boil sugar, salt, honey and water together stirring often until it read 242 degrees on a candy thermometer (firm soft ball stage). remove from heat and stir in the walnuts and the vanilla, stirring until creamy. turn candy onto wax paper and seperate the nuts using two forks.

 

[abjcooking]

I'm going to need some more walnuts now! I think I'll try the sugar one for the fruit and the spicy one for my green salads. Thanks

 

[abjcooking]

Designerobsessed,
I really enjoyed it. Overall I really liked the simplicity of it. It is a dish that I often think of for a party, but I think it is a nice change for a light lunch with the walnuts added. It is something that I figure I can recreate at home very easily if I can get the walnuts to taste right. I can't remember who posted the recipe but they recommended a fruit dip where you mix blueberry yougert with same amount of cool whip. I used yoplait's strawberry and it turned out fantastic.

 

[LEFSElover]

I came home with a truckload of mixed nuts (sans peanuts) from work one day so took to our daughters. I took them especially to try and duplicate a recipe someone made on TV that I'd recently seen and looked 'easy' enough. I remembered there being = parts water/sugar. I put 1 cup of each in a saucepan and cooked away. I got the stuff to the amber color and it was quite thick too. (my caution here is don't take it that thick, syrupy is better as it sets up waaay fast!) I got up all my nerve, put the nuts in a big bowl, dumped the sugar mix on top and stirred quickly as it hardens up fast. dumped that quickly on a cookie sheet covered with waxed paper and spread, again, quickly to one layer. when they were a bit cool to the touch, I moved them around so they wouldn't become one solid mass of sweetnutshire . it worked, they were wonderful, very crunchy and the coating was perfect.

 

[abjcooking]

OK, I made the recipe tonight that Middie posted to go with my fruit salad. It seemed close to the ingredients that was on the package at McDonalds. It came pretty close. I think if I had a candy thermomoter it would have been even better because it came out a little gooey, but the flavor was pretty close.

As soon as I try the spicy nuts I will post the results.

Thanks for posting your recipes