Spiced Nuts and Bourbon Cocktails

You know what's stupid hard? Melting white chocolate. Yep. Who knew!? And, you know what kinda stings? Tossing peppermint extract all over yourself. Yep. I had a bummer kitchen flop tonight. I burned up quite a bit of chocolate. Lame. BUT! I repaired myself and made cocktails! All good, all around! Anywho, posts that were supposed to be Spiced Nuts and Peppermint Bark have turned into Spiced Nuts and The McIver Cocktail. Cheers, ya'll.

Spiced Nuts - recipe compliments of my dear brother
Preheat oven to 350

1/2 pound of pecans (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon chile powder
Boiling water

Measure nuts and start a large pot of water set to boil. In a very large bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon and chile.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper. Pour nuts into boiling water and boil for one minute. Drain nuts and toss quickly in the sugar and spice mixture. You want to do this quickly - enough to coat the nuts, not so much as to melt the sugar. Spread in a single layer on the parchment lined baking dish. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then turn off the oven and let the nuts cool in the oven. 

These are delicious! I am so happy my brother gave me this recipe a few years ago.

A few things about this recipe...
I've doubled this recipe, but they really turn out better when I make only 1/2 a pound at a time. These are great on their own, but also delicious on salads and ice cream. They are especially delicious while drinking bourbon... which leads me to...

The Bourbon McIver
Serves 2

2 sugar cubs
A few dashes bitters
4 ounces bourbon
2 thick slices of orange

Muddle in each of two glasses one sugar cube, a large orange slice and a few dashes of bitters. Pour bourbon over orange concoction and enjoy!

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