Candied Pecans and Canning Labels
Just because we’ve extended Sunday’s Indie Bookstore Crawl for an additional 24 hours, we haven’t forgotten about Make-Ahead Monday! For this, our third Make-Ahead Monday of SSJ Advent 2024, we’re making super-easy Winter Spiced Candied Pecans and designing canning labels for the treats we’ve made thus far.
Let’s put the cart before the horse by first posting the pretty Canning Labels we’ve designed for our jars and for our cellophane bags of glorious pecans. This year, we decided to sample sections of the Dutch Master Rachel Ruysch’s still lives for our labels. Later in the day, we’ll print these out and apply them to our gifts along with ribbons and jingle bells:
SSJ’s recipe for our glorious Winter Spiced Candied Pecans follows. But, don’t forget to scroll or click down to our ON THIS DAY section to see what we’ve been up to on December 16th since 2011.
Winter Spiced Candied Pecans
Equipment
- candy thermometer
- medium-sized saucepan
- heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon
- Silpat, waxed paper, or parchment
- large slotted spoon [helpful, but not required]
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup evaporated milk
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cardamom
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp cloves
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups pecan halves
Instructions
- Place a Silpat, piece of waxed paper, or parchment, on a large baking sheet.
- In a medium saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer, combine the sugar, evaporated milk, and spices.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat and stir consistently, making sure to keep the sugar on the bottom of the pan from burning.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium/medium low as the mixture continues to boil.
- When the mixture reaches 234℉ on the thermometer (the soft ball stage is approx 234-238℉), turn the heat to low and stir in your vanilla. The mixture will foam up a bit and sizzle.
- Immediately add the pecans and stir until combined and coated.
- Using a spoon [a slotted spoon is ideal] or spatula, transfer the pecans to the prepared lined sheet, spreading out the individual nuts-in-candy as much as possible.
- Allow to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for 7-10 days.
Notes
This recipe is a gentle adaptation of “Georgia Spiced Pecans,” The Lady and Sons, Too! @ 2001 by Paula Deen, Random House.ON THIS DAY
2023: Family Book Exchange and Italian Leaf Cookies
2022: Learning Day and Lazy Night
2021: Ladies Luncheon & Distillery Winter Village
2020: “The Kringlewood Alternative,” Sketch Our House, With or Without an Inflatable Santa
2019: Glam Cans 2019
2018: Hallmark-Style Christmas Movie Spoof
2017: Christmas Cookie Marathon
2016: Dinner and Rogue One, A Star Wars Story
2015: Random Act of Kindness Day
2014: Tonic Tuesday: Donate to the Daily Bread Food Bank
2013: Fill a Pantry! Donate to the Daily Bread Food Bank
2012: Read & Illustrate The Winter’s Tale, Act IV
2011: Festive After-School Spa
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