Easy Glazed Almond Recipe

This glazed almond recipe is fast and easy and great to have on hand for the holidays...or any time. It's kind of like the equivalent of peanut brittle, but without all the hassle of the baking soda and candy thermometer. You don't need any of that. One pan and boom, you're done.

Here are the ingredients:

2 cups almonds (I used dry roasted/unsalted).

3/4 cup organic sugar (has a nicer, more caramel-y taste...but regular white sugar will work as well)

3 TBSP butter (not margarine. You have to use the real stuff)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

One large piece of foil

Pam spray, or 1 TBSP butter

The very first thing you want to do is prepare your area. Clear off a counter top and cover with foil. If you don't have much space, cover a cookie sheet with foil. I like to spray my foil with Pam, but if you'd rather, you can use 1 TBSP of butter (not part of the 3 TBSP for the recipe) and butter the foil.

In these photos I have used butter because I didn't have Pam. But the reason I prefer the Pam is that the butter will make your almond slightly dull the following day. If you're going to use them immediately, not a problem, but the Pam makes it less butter/oily.

Directions

Use a nonstick frying pan to make clean up easier. If you don't have one, a heavy frying pan or wide pan will do as well.

Add 2 cups almonds, 3/4 cup sugar and 3 TSBP butter in the frying pan. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture as the butter melts. Keep the flame at a medium flame. Try to coat the almonds as the sugar and butter start to melt. This is easy to do as everything is in one pan and getting covered as you stir. Still, there are always those few non-compliant almonds that try to escape...so try to get them in the mix.

As the butter melts, so does the sugar. What you're looking for is a nice golden brown color...and smooth texture. The first photo to the right shows the sugar as it's starting to melt. it still looks granular. The second photo shows it completely melted. This is when you know you're done with the melting process.

At this point, turn off the heat and IMMEDIATELY add one tsp. vanilla extract. Stand back. The reaction of the extract to the butter/sugar will cause some sputtering. As you add the extract, stir the whole mixture.

Once it is stirred, you want to take it over to your prepared foil and pour it out, moving the pan so that you get small clusters of almonds, rather than a mass of almonds and brittle. Assess the situation. If they are too clumped together, you'll want to use your spoon to separate them so they are in smaller clusters (rather than having them be in large clusters that you'll have to break apart.) Sprinkle lightly with salt. This gives it that nice sweet/salty combination.

That's all there is to it. Once it has cooled completed, you can remove the foil and break it up into pieces. Store it in a air tight container and it will stay crunchy.

You can serve it as is...or add a cluster on the side of a dish of ice cream for a nice presentation.