Chipotle Spiced Nuts

A nice change from sugar laden nuts. You can use chipotle powder instead of roasting them. Nuts are raw, unseasoned and unsalted.

• Ready In: 20 mins
• Serves: 16
• Yields: 16

Ingredients

• 3  cups pecans
• 1  cup peanuts
• 1 2⁄3 cups  macadamia nuts
• 1 2⁄3 cups cashew nuts (A note on the nuts ( these four nuts were the ones that I opted to include, but you can really use a)
• 1⁄4 cup olive oil
• 1  teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 1  teaspoon cumin, ground
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon mustard seeds, ground
• 1  chipotle chile (Please note that I opted to toast and grind my own chipotle chile, but you can easily just skip ahea)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a dry skillet or comal over medium heat, toast the chipotle chile pod for 3-4 minutes on each side. A toasted chile will turn a slightly darker shade of brown and be crazy (good) fragrant. Remove and allow to cool. Once the chile is cool enough to handle, cut off and discard the top and slice town the body of the chile. Tear out the seed column and remove all loose seeds. Tear the remaining chile skin into smaller pieces and grind to a fine powder in a spice mill.
3. Meanwhile, place the nuts in a large bowl and top with the olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, ground mustard and chipotle powder. Toss well (I used clean hands) until the nuts are evenly coated, and pour onto a large, rimmed baking sheet. I opted to line my baking sheet with parchment paper just to make clean up a little easier, but parchment is not required.
4. Bake nuts for 10-15 minutes. Finished nuts will be golden and crazy (good) fragrant. Remove, cool and serve or package.