Save Money and Make your Own Crock Pot Cinnamon Candied Almonds.
Every time we go out watching games or walking in some fairs, you can bet someone is selling cinnamon almonds. You can smell them from far and to be honest, we can’t resist…
Though… they may be pretty expensive… So… let’s make them in the slow cooker instead, and the whole family will enjoy them at a very reasonable price :-). I found a great recipe on 365 days of Slow Cooking.
Let’s start:
To make these cinnamon almonds, the first thing you’ll want to do is separate two egg whites from the yolks. It’s not hard, but you will get your hands a little dirty.
You’ll just gently crack the egg on a flat surface and pry the eggshell halves apart. Hold the halves upright and let the egg whites run off into the bowl.
Then you’ll transfer the egg yolk back and forth between the two eggshell halves. You’ll let the egg white slide off into the bowl below. If you want to keep the yolk, you can place it in another bowl. For this recipe, we will just be using egg whites.
Then you’ll get out a hand mixer or a whisk and whip up the eggs until they get foamy. This took maybe 2 minutes with my hand mixer.
This is what the consistency will look like…foamy but not yet meringue consistency.
Next, you’ll add almonds.
You will fold the almonds into the foamy egg whites and some vanilla. Add 4 cups of almonds, but you could go to about 5 cups and be okay.
You’ll want to coat each almond as much as possible. This egg wash is what’s going to hold the cinnamon and sugar onto the almonds.
In a separate bowl, you will mix brown sugar, white sugar, a bit of salt, and cinnamon together.
Then you’ll pour the sugar mixture onto the egg/almond mixture. Coat all those almonds as much as possible with sugar. Then you’ll add the almonds to your slow cooker. Cook them on HIGH for about 2 1/2 hours (you can also cook on low for 4-5 hours). Stir the almonds every 30 minutes; this way, the almonds get broken up and get coated evenly with the sugar. If you stir thoroughly, they won’t stick as much to the bottom and sides of the slow cooker.
After they are cooked in the crock pot, you’ll pour the almonds onto a parchment-lined pan. At this point, break up any remaining chunks of almonds and let them cool and dry out (if you don’t want to wait, put them in a 200-degree oven for 15 minutes and then let them cool). When they are thoroughly cooled, stored them in an airtight container. As long as they are stored this way, they should be good for several weeks.
