Ah, nuts or Go Nuts! or Alyce and Helen's Spicy Nuts

 It's snowing here.  I've been waiting forever.. or it seems like.
This week, it's been one thing after another; do you have weeks like that?
When you have an agenda only to have it thwarted by work, illness, spouses traveling, or whatever?
Promises, however, are promises.  And the promise to  give you the recipes from this tray:

Go Nuts!  Today's recipe is at center.

is being kept.

Today's entry is one I may have posted before, but it's worth repeating if I have.   Surely it's gone into the Holiday Cookbook  for 2010 on examiner.com.   This is a spiced nut recipe that I originally received from my sister Helen.  I have since called it Go Nuts!  But, having changed it from her recipe to mine, I've also called it Alyce and Helen's Spicy Nuts.  I'm baking five kinds of cookies today and, while looking at an old Betty Crocker Cookbook from the early '70s, I saw a very similar recipe there!  I'm big on provenance.  If something is original (or I have every reason to believe it is), I want the credit.  If it's a riff on something, I want the other cook to have the credit; I want to be a honest recipe person.  Sometimes I know there's nothing new under the sun and, when I really think I've done something new (for instance, I grilled pizza in the '80s) I wish I'd put it somewhere.

They really taste this good.

Well, here's your recipe for the day.  People adore this stuff.  It does store ok, but is best during the first day or so.

P.S.  I know how pedestrian this post is...   See bottom.

Go Nuts!  Or whatever you want to call it----------------

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites, beaten well
• 1.5 pounds nuts (pecans, cashews and almonds are a good mix; just pecans are scrumptious)
• 3/4 c white, granulated sugar
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 t cinnamon (I like Vietnamese)
• 1/4 t ground cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Mix together all ingredients well in a large bowl.
3. On a well-greased half-sheet cake pan (or a large, rimmed baking sheet), spread out nuts evenly.
4. Bake for an hour.  Check for crispy brown doneness.  If just chewy, separate out nuts a bit with a fork or fingers (careful!), and bake five minutes longer.
5. When nuts are crispy, remove pan from oven, cool briefly and break nuts apart.  Remove to another pan for cooling or nuts may stick. (If they do, reheat them for 5 minutes and then remove to another pan.)  For crispiest nuts, let sit at room temperature for several hours.
6. Store, cooled,  in gallon plastic bags or well-sealing containers at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.  For longer storage, refrigerate. 

In Memoriam

Our share cat Skippy Jon Jones had to be euthanized today.  Miss him already.  No words.

Skippy--Luvya!  See you later.