Homemade gifts are one of my favorites to gift and receive. It’s such a lovely treat to receive a gift that someone has lovingly handcrafted for you… especially if it’s a super yummy one like maple roasted candied walnuts! Thanks to my partnership with Crown Maple® and my participation in the Mom Blog Tour Natural Products Expo West, I was inspired to make maple roasted candied walnuts to help you easily impress your gift recipient with this fresh gourmet treat!
I participated in Mom Blog Tour Natural Products Expo West (#MomBlogTourFF) on behalf of Wendy’s Bloggers. I received Crown Maple products to facilitate my review, but my opinions and creative content are my own.
Every year at the state fair, one of the first places we race to is the roasted nut stand. My hubby, kids and I all adore the fresh roasted flavors and sugary sweet coatings. It’s a mouth-watering snack we savor as we walk around the exhibits and watch the shows.
For Christmas one year, I decided to make my family a batch at home. After a little experimenting, I came up with the perfect simple recipe for making a honey-based glaze for roasting. Since then, fresh glazed and roasted nuts have been a huge hit in our home and with our friends and family. I get requests often to cook up a batch and I readily oblige as these delights happen to be one of my favorite salad toppers, too!
After visiting with Crown Maple at the Natural Products Expo West, I was so inspired by their flavors that this Father’s Day, I decided to tweak my recipe to make maple roasted candied walnuts using Crown Maple® Bourbon Barrel Aged Organic Maple Syrup. (Hello, serious “yum” alert there!)
Crown Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Organic Maple Syrup is one of the delightful products I learned about when meeting with them at Natural Products Expo West. We also sampled and/or learned about:
- Crown Maple® Madagascar Vanilla Infused Organic Maple Syrup
- Crown Maple® Cinnamon Infused Organic Maple Syrup
- Crown Maple® Applewood Smoked Organic Maple Syrup
- Crown Maple® Sweet Heat Maple
- Crown Maple® Coffee Infused Organic Maple Syrup
- and a variety of traditional maple syrup flavors ranging from Amber to Very Dark.
When it comes to syrups, Crown Maple sets the bar high and I know I’ll now be a life-long fan of these wildly-delicious pure, certified-organic maple products. The company is dedicated to providing a gourmet maple experience. From their artisan craftsmanship to their sustainable forest practices, they are truly a model of excellence… and most importantly, masters at delivering exceptional flavors and taste.
Any one of Crown Maple’s delicious syrups are suitable for this recipe, but as a Kentucky girl, I was swayed a bit by the bourbon! While the glaze can be used with any type of nut you would like to candy roast, I highly recommend using walnuts or pecans as they are such a fantastic compliment for this bourbon barrel aged maple syrup.
Maple Roasted Candied Walnuts
(printable version below)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (I used Crown Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Organic Maple Syrup)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 cups of unsalted walnuts
1/2 teaspoon of finely ground sea salt
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large saucepan over a medium heat, melt butter.
Add maple syrup and salt. Stir and reduce heat to simmer. Stirring occasionally, simmer for 5 minutes.
Add walnuts. Gently mix in walnuts until fully coated with syrup. Cook for 5 minutes (or until syrup bubbles.)
Remove from heat. Spread glazed walnuts in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake walnuts until they are golden brown (caramelized.) This process only takes 5-8 minutes and you will need to watch the nuts regularly to make sure the sugar doesn’t burn. I generally open the oven and pick up a few of the walnuts to check the bottoms around the 7 minute mark and they are generally nicely browned at this point. Every oven is different, though, so be sure to check yours at regular intervals.
Removed from oven when done. Lift parchment paper with nuts and place onto a wire rack for cooling.
Optional: Dust candied walnuts with a sprinkle of Crown® Maple Sugar. A healthier alternative to classic granulated sweeteners, Crown Maple Sugar also adds a hint of additional maple goodness to your Maple Roasted Candied Walnuts.
If you like to enjoy the nuts while they are warm and fresh-roasted, cool for about 10 minutes and then serve.
If you are making them for gifting or storing for later use, cool for 30 minutes then transfer to an airtight container. They may be stored for 2 weeks.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (I used Crown Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Organic Maple Syrup)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 cups of unsalted walnuts
- 1/2 teaspoon of finely ground sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large saucepan over a medium heat, melt butter.
- Add maple syrup and salt. Stir and reduce heat to simmer. Stirring occasionally, simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add walnuts. Gently mix in walnuts until fully coated with syrup. Cook for 5 minutes (or until syrup bubbles.)
- Remove from heat. Spread glazed walnuts in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake walnuts until they are golden brown (caramelized.) This process only takes 5-8 minutes and you will need to watch the nuts regularly to make sure the sugar doesn’t burn. I generally open the oven and pick up a few of the walnuts to check the bottoms around the 7 minute mark and they are generally nicely browned at this point. Every oven is different, though, so be sure to check yours at regular intervals.
- Removed from oven when done. Lift parchment paper with nuts and place onto a wire rack for cooling.
- Optional: Dust candied walnuts with a sprinkle of Crown® Maple Sugar. A healthier alternative to classic granulated sweeteners, Crown Maple Sugar also adds a hint of additional maple goodness to your Maple Roasted Candied Walnuts.
- If you like to enjoy the nuts while they are warm and fresh-roasted, cool for about 10 minutes and then serve.
- If you are making them for gifting or storing for later use, cool for 30 minutes then transfer to an airtight container. They may be stored for 2 weeks.
My favorite way to enjoy them is fresh from the over (after cooling for 10 minutes,) they simply melt in your mouth! Of course, I save some for gifting and I always make sure to store a bunch, too, to enjoy on salads later.
I love Crown Maple syrups so much that I also made a Wild Blueberry Maple Balsamic Dressing in combination with my Maple Roasted Candied Walnuts on salads. Be sure to check out that recipe, too HERE.
Mom Blog Tour Super Colossal Giveaway
Thanks to our amazing sponsors, like Crown Maple, I have a wonderful opportunity to share with you – the Mom Blog Tour Super Colossal Giveaway! This is one giveaway you don’t want to miss entering… the prize package is $1500 worth of healthy foods and products to help inspire creative mealtime in your home! Click on the link below to enter.
Do you have a favorite homemade gift you like to give? What’s topping your salads today?
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I can imagine you giving these as gifts throughout the year Barb. They look amazingly good! I’ve been adding sunflowers and lime flavored pepitas to my salads lately.
Thanks Linda!! They are so fun to gift and to bring to holiday gatherings, too, as they are just so dang easy to make and always a hit. I’m really digging the savory sweet flavor the maple syrup adds. Going to try making with the cinnamon-infused syrup next and better they will border on addictive! Ha ha! Love sunflowers on salads, too, so good! Haven’t tried lime flavored pepitas but they sound delicious.