TwoFaced: Maple Glazed Cinnamon Almonds

When Jenna and I were deciding on this week's TwoFaced ingredient, my only request was that it be the kind of thing I could turn into a quick, easy snack.

It's not that I'm lazy (not this time, anyway), but I'm on the road this week for work and then to see my family for Thanksgiving, so the last thing I needed was a ton of leftover paleo enchiladas or some other delicious brainchild of mine rotting in the refrigerator. Instead, I wanted to make something I could easily take on the road to curb those "I'm travelling so the calories in this soft pretzel/sub sandwich/artery clogging guilty pleasure of choice don't count" cravings. 

Jenna and I chose almonds for this week's TwoFaced venture, so it was pretty obvious what I had to make. This time of year always reminds me of my mom's cinnamon sugar pecans. She makes huge batches of them and gives them out as Christmas treats. They're sweet and crunchy and delicious and not at all paleo. So, as I'm wont to do with my mom's recipes, I decided to doctor it up into something more paleo friendly. 

This whole recipe only took about 3 minutes to put together. It literally took the oven longer to preheat than it did to whip these up! For paleo-friendly sweetness, I used maple syrup to coat the almonds. For a seasonal taste, I added a few teaspoons of cinnamon, but you could also use pumpkin pie spice.

When they come out of the oven, you'll have a few of these great brittle-like chunks. You could break them up into individual almonds, but what in the hell would you do that??

For more paleo culinary genius featuring the almighty almond, check out The Paleo Project!

Maple Glazed Cinnamon Almonds
Makes a lot

• 1 bag of roasted, unsalted almonds (the roasted almonds have more flavor, but if you buy unroasted almonds, you can toast them in a dry pan for a few minutes until they're fragrant)
• 2 Tbsp. good maple syrup
• 2 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice 
• pinch of sea salt (optional)

1.) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper.

2.) In a bowl, combine almonds, maple syrup and cinnamon. Using a silicon spatula, mix until the almonds are well coated. Taste the almonds and add more cinnamon if you like.

3.) Spread almonds onto foil-lined cookie sheet into an even layer. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt if you like. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring about halfway through.

4.) Allow almonds to cool for about 5 minutes before breaking into pieces.