The Union Square Café in New York makes the best salty-sweet bar nuts in the world. Until proven otherwise by happy experiment. If you get to the bar at 4.45, the nuts are fresh out of the oven, warm and delicious. The recipe is published in The Union Square Café Cookbook, and featured by Nigella Lawson in several of her books. That said, I’m convinced that there is more sugar and salt in the café nuts than in the recipe, so I add more. Either way, they’re good.
2 cups of mixed nuts
2 tbsp chopped rosemary
½ tsp cayenne
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp butter
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 then roast the nuts on a baking tray for 8 – 10 minutes until golden. Keep an eye on them and set a timer. Nuts go from fragrant to burned in a second.
- Melt the butter, then add the cayenne, salt, sugar and rosemary
- Tip the hot nuts into a bowl and toss with the flavored butter mixture
- Serve warm
(They can be made in advance and heated up in a low oven before a party if that makes life easier)
This recipe originally appeared in this post along with hot gossip and a cold martini.