Roast Nuts

Here is my method for roasting pecans and almonds (bought from Costco in large bags). Everything is somewhat approximate and done by "feel".

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F - 400 F.

• Melt 75g coconut oil in a large bowl.

• I usually roast both pecans and almonds in one session, but I do the pecans first.

• Toss 550g pecans in the bowl with the oil.

• Lightly salt.

• Place on a baking sheet (with edges) and spread evenly.

• Place in oven and set timer for 5 minutes.

• After 5 minutes toss the nuts, especially working the edges and corners.

• Set timer for 4 minutes.

• Toss nuts again.

• At this point I judge doneness by colour and smell. I roast for one minute at a time, tossing each minute. It's incredibly easy to scorch pecans so as soon as they start to darken I usually pull them out. They are more enjoyable slightly underdone than slightly overdone.

• Tilt baking sheet to let some of the oil drain and spoon nuts onto tinfoil to cool. They are excellent as soon as they are cool enough to eat.

• For the almonds I repeat everything above, except that I use 600g of almonds and I salt liberally. The almonds won't hold too much of the salt anyway because of their shape.

• With the almonds I look for browning and also for cracking. When a decent proportion have developed fissures I pull them out. This usually takes a bit longer than with the pecans.

• Drain and spoon almonds onto tinfoil.

• The almonds will not be that crunchy until you let them cool fully. You'll hear a delightful 'cracking' sound for a good half hour after pulling them out of the oven.

• The nuts are best in the first few days, but last a few weeks in an airtight container.

I've done walnuts the same way, too, but they are even more prone to scorching than the pecans. They also don't last nearly as long in an airtight container due to the higher polyunsaturated fat content of walnuts.

Enjoy!