Candied Walnuts – a special Christmas treat; these crunchy cinnamon and sugar coated walnuts are quick to make.
Homemade Candied Walnuts may seem intimidating if you have no experience with making caramel on your own. It is not at all difficult, there are just some things you have to keep in mind in order to go through the procedure safely. Namely, melted sugar is very hot and can cause skin burn if not handled carefully.
The procedure itself is quite simple: you put walnuts in a heavy bottomed pan, add butter, sugar and salt. Heat, stirring, until sugar starts melting.
Another thing you have to take care of is how long are you going to keep the mixture on the stove. I cannot give you exact time as it depends on many factors: a type of your heat source, a type of the pan you’re using, amount of walnuts, sugar and butter in the pan etc. The best thing is to observe what is going on while you’re stirring. When you notice that sugar has melted, it can be only few seconds until it reaches caramel color. You should remove it from the heat because it will continue cooking even after the stove is turned of since the pan is still hot. You do not want your sugar to become dark brown and burn as it will be bitter tasting.
After that the only thing you have to do is turn the mixture onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper, separate walnuts so they don’t clump together and let cool.
In about 5 minutes cooling time you will have your Candied Walnuts Christmas treat finished!

Candied Walnuts - a special Christmas treat; these crunchy cinnamon and sugar coated walnuts are quick to make.
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 Tbsp butter, unsalted
- 4 Tbsp sugar (white or/and brown)
- a pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
-
Put walnuts, butter, sugar and salt in a heavy bottomed pan. Heat, stirring continually with wooden spoon or spatula (sugar will stick to metal), until sugar melts.
-
In the end add cinnamon and vanilla and stir one more time.
-
Place on baking paper and immediately separate walnuts with two forks or two spatulas to prevent clumping. Do not touch with hands as caramel can burn your skin severely.
-
Let cool until hardened, about 5 minutes.
This recipe was first published on: December 2, 2017
This sounds delicious! Did you use raw walnuts? I guess they (kind of) roast in the pan when you mix with the sugar? I can’t wait to try this. I have wanted to try my hand at making candied nuts for a while now. Thank you!
Betty, you’re right. I used raw walnuts as they roast in the pan with the sugar.
They look so delicious! I’ll make these for a Holiday treat for sure! Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Marja! 🙂
can we use pecans in its place?
Yes, I believe you can.