Sweet and Salty Pecans

This past weekend, we had some of Bret's friends over to finally see our new place.  I'm embarrassed to admit that we've been living in Andover since August and that some of our good friends still haven't seen our place!  Since Bret's friends are vegetarians so I thought this was a good opportunity to try out some new meat-free recipes that would still be pretty flavorful!

My plan was to make a few different dishes that would be easy to nibble on.  I browsed through the complimentary Salty Sweets cookbook that I received at the Boston Brunchers' Birthday Brunch and the recipe for Sweet and Salty Pecans quickly caught my eye.

First, I gathered the ingredients.  Since I had about two cups of pecans, I decided to double the recipe:

• 4 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon iodized salt (original recipe calls for fine sea salt)
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 cups pecan pieces

I combined the brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and water in a small bowl and whisked to dissolve the sugars.

Since we purchased whole pecans, Bret helped roughly chop the pecans into pecan pieces.

I placed the pecans in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.

I pour the sugar mixture over the pecans and stirred the nuts to make sure they were evenly coated.

I continued stirring as the sugar mixture heated up and started to bubble.  I let the pecans cook until the moisture was almost gone.  This took me about six minutes.  Per the recipe's instructions, I didn't let the water cook off completely.

I removed the pecans from the skillet onto a parchment-lined baking sheet to cool.

The pecans were mostly sweet and had a nice hint of saltiness.  While the cookbook recommends eating these as a snack or as a dessert topping, the sugar coating made the pecans sticky and a bit messy to eat with your hands as a snack.  However, I'm sure they will make a perfect topping for a pumpkin ice cream sundae!

What is your favorite food that incorporates both salty and sweet flavors?