Cayenne-Spiced Roasted Nuts

I made these nuts for the Super Bowl tomorrow. I'd made them previously and burned the crap out of them. This time they came out perfectly done. They're soooo delicious and addictive, with a sweet/spicy flavor combo that's great.

Cayenne adds its own health benefits to the very nutritious nuts. According to Vegetarian Times, cayenne is a natural blood thinner that improves circulation, can help treat heartburn and ulcers, helps rev metabolism and reduce appetite, and may also help prevent pancreatic cancer.

This recipe is from the January/February 2011 issue of Vegetarian Times. You can substitute any type of nut. This is what I made.

Cayenne-Spiced Roasted Nuts
Makes 5 cups

Spice Mix

• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, optional

Roasted Nuts

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup raw pecans
• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Combine all spice mix ingredients in small bowl and set aside.
2. Combine all nuts, oil, and spice mix in a large bowl. I started with 2 tablespoons of oil and added only as much as I needed to completely coat the nuts with oil and spices.
3. Spread on 2 baking sheets. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until nuts begin to brown and appear dried, stirring occasionally. Season with salt if desired and cool on baking sheets. Store in an airtight container. NOTE: Better to under-bake these because they're easy to burn. They continue to bake a little on the baking sheets when you take them out of the oven, so I took them out just when they started to look like they might be done, and by the time they cooled they were perfect.