Sweet & Spicy Peanuts

Ingredients:
2 cups unsalted, roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon chipotle chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt

Directions:
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 250. Toss all ingredients together except for the salt. Make sure the nuts are evenly coated. Arrange in a single layer on one of the baking sheet and bake 25-35 minutes, or until the peanuts look mostly dry, stirring every 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt and allow to cool on the remaining lined baking sheet.

Tip: Set the oven timer for 5 minutes, stir the nuts. I (carefully!) reached in the oven and tossed them with a spatula then set the timer again until 30 or so minutes were up.

My thoughts:

I made these for our neighbors who, by the wafting scent of their Old Bay redolent crab feasts they host each year, like things a little bit spicy. The sugar provides a nice sweet component and helps the spices stick to the nuts. This was Matt’s second favorite of the 6 kinds of nuts I made this year. I have to admit, I only had a couple (after a marathon day of nut flavoring I was in nut overload) but they were very good, just the perfect middle ground between sweet and spicy. The five spice powder was a great idea if I do say myself, it gave a complex flavor to the nuts without having to measure tiny amounts of spices.