Rosemary Chipotle Roasted Nuts

You didn’t think I could sneak in another little tidbit before Thanksgiving, did you?  Well I wouldn’t offer up anything that would mess with your probably already-set menus at this point, but this is just a little add-on.  I couldn’t help myself.  They are so good.  And frankly, they’re the perfect Thanksgiving pre-meal nosh.

Here is the Thanksgiving appetizer conundrum.  Usually dinner is earlier than usual.  Early enough that if you eat lunch, you ruin your capacity to eat massive amounts at dinner.  So snacks are good, but anything too heavy and you call into the same trap as if you ate a big lunch; and if it’s too involved,it’s just annoying because you are trying to cook up Thanksgiving dinner, thank you very much.

Enter these nuts.  They take under 5 minutes to mix up, they are filling without being heavy, and they are so delicious that you won’t be quite as tempted to start picking at the turkey before dinner.

Fair warning, though: they are dangerously addictive.  You know how sometimes you start eating a bowl of bar nuts and you just. can’t. stop?  Yeah, well, that. PLUS, these are truly addictive in the way that only the best sweet/salty/spicy things can be.  Needless to say, I will be shocked if there are any leftovers.  If there were, I’d say they’d be tasty chopped up and put on top of a salad.  But yeah, if you want to do that you better make a double batch.  And then hide half of them where the rest of your family won’t find them.

Rosemary Chipotle Roasted Nuts

I used a mix of peanuts, pecans, and almonds here, but I’ve also made this using just cashews, which was phenomenal.  If you get a nice variety of nuts, everyone will have their favorite.

adapted from the recipe for bar nuts in the Union Square Cafe Cookbook

1 1/2 pound of any kind of nuts

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely-ish chopped

1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle, or plain old cayenne would do just fine

2 teaspoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon butter, melted