Candy Walnuts for a Super Salad or Snack

By L. Stolpman in Food on May 1, 2008 3:15PM

We love doing something unexpected to a standard dish to make it rise above the norm and salads are no exception. We recently served a simple spring salad with sliced dates, a yellow heirloom tomato and goat cheese. The dressing was no more than a pear infused white balsamic (available at Whole Foods for about $3.50), salt, pepper, and a good olive oil. What elevated the salad was the final topping: candied walnuts.

Don't buy these pre-made. Make them at home to keep them fresh and tasty.

You'll need:

1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1 cup of walnuts.

Put the sugar and salt into a heavy bottomed frying pan over low to low/med heat. After a few minutes, you'll see the sugar begin to melt and caramelize. Once fully melted and a nice light to medium brown, toss in the walnuts. Quickly stir until coated and then pour out on to parchment paper. Separate the nuts as well as you can with two forks (they will be extremely hot!). Once cool, you can break apart the larger pieces with your hands.

Sprinkle on your salad or snack away!