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I don’t have a yard here and grow all of my herbs and edible flowers in pots and planters on the patio. One of these herbs is rosemary, a perennial herb that spent the winter under a grow light inside. It is now spring and time for the rosemary to head back out.

Rosemary is a plant that can be hard pruned back at the end of winter/beginning of spring. This helps the plant fill out and be bushier. My plant looked like it needed a little help this year so I decided a hard pruning was in order. Result: lots of rosemary twigs. Some I hung up to dry but I love using rosemary in recipes while it is fresh the most.

One of my favorite recipes to make with rosemary recently is Rosemary Roasted Nuts. Nuts are my favorite snack and I always love to have different variations of roasted nuts on hand. The rosemary adds this awesome herbaceous flavor.

These nuts are a little sweet, a little spicy, a little savory and totally addictive. One full recipe makes about 2 cups of nuts. Double or triple as desired! One of the best things about roasted nuts is you can modify the recipe to be perfect for you.

Secret: I probably overcooked these by 1-2 minutes. Hence the 12 minutes, not 15. This is why you should watch them VERY closely at the end of the cook time. Luckily they didn’t burn and the result was a just slightly darker nut (which is kind of pretty), and they are still super delicious!

Be careful going the other way too or your nuts will stick together in the sealed storage container. This happened when I made the recipe a month ago. It wasn’t a big deal. I shook the container before I dug in. The nuts were just sticky enough to slowly stick together. Hence 12 minutes, not 10. But remember, every oven is different – just check, check, check!

Rosemary Roasted Nuts

Inspired by Vanilla And Bean, Modified from Ina Garten
Makes ~2 cups

This recipe is very modifiable. Don’t have coconut oil – use butter. Use any nuts in any combo you want.
No honey? No problem, use maple syrup! Want to be traditional like Ina? Don’t use any!
Use any sugar you like: brown, coconut, etc. I wanted an excuse to use the lilac sugar (though you can’t taste it).
Don’t like it spicy? Reduce the cayenne or even remove it all together. The world of roasted nuts is your oyster!

½ tbs coconut oil, melted (I keep a couple tbs in a 4 oz jelly jar to heat up when needed)
¼ lb almonds
¼ lb cashews
1 ½ tbs honey
1 tsp granulated sugar (I used my lilac sugar!)
¼ tsp + ¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tbs + ½ tbs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375° F
2. In bowl large enough to mix the nuts into, add melted coconut oil, honey, sugar, ¼ tsp salt, cayenne pepper, and ½ tbs rosemary. Stir to combine. Pour nuts into bowl and mix until all the nuts are coated.
3. Place nuts on sheet pan (I cover mine with a silpat but you can use parchment or just the pan) and into oven. Roast 12 minutes, mixing nuts throughly half way through. Watch the nuts closely the last couple minutes to make sure they do not burn. Bake longer if desired.
4. Immediately after removing from oven sprinkle remaining ¼ tsp salt and ½ tbs rosemary on nuts. Stir then place on parchment paper to cool.
5. Nuts may stick together, break them up with your hands once cool and store in air tight container. Enjoy…they might last the week!

P.S. Please ignore the “I think I use them almost everyday” look of my silpat and pan. I have one silpat I use exclusively for recipes like these and it shows.

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