Red chile pecans make a nice little snack - slightly sweet, a little spicy, and totally addicting.
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
You'll need a sheet pan large enough to spread 2 cups of pecan in one layer.
Preheat oven to 275° F.
In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, maple syrup, chile powder and sea salt. Once well blended, add the pecans.
Using a spatula, stir the pecans to coat evenly with the chile/maple mixture.
Spread the seasoned pecans out in one layer in the sheet pan.
Place pecans in preheated oven. In 10 minutes, remove from oven and stir the pecans. They will be moist and sticky. Return to the oven.
At this point, stir the pecans every 5 minutes until done. With each stirring you'll see the pecan coating getting less and less sticky and the pecans starting to roast or darken.
After 25 minutes, the pecans should be nicely roasted, drier, and easy to separate. If still sticky, return and roast another 5 minutes.
Transfer to mixing bowl, and stir with spatula to separate and cool. Let pecans cool in the bowl, stirring occasionally to keep them from sticking together.
Once cool, transfer to an airtight container and enjoy!
Pecans - Pecan halves are better than pecan pieces, but if pieces are what you have, then don't hesitate to use them. However, cut the roasting time by 5 - 10 minutes.
Amount of pecans - If you are looking for a hint of sweetness and a hint of spice, then increase the amount of pecans to 3/4 cup. Keep the other ingredients and instructions the same.
Red Chile Powder - For this recipe, I use New Mexico powders, specifically Dixon Red Chile Powder or Chimayo Red Chile Powder. Both of these powders have a slightly sweet finish which works nicely with the maple syrup and the sweetness of the pecans. For a little more spiciness, throw in 1/2 tsp. of a hotter chile powder such as cayenne or serrano.
If you don't have New Mexico chile powder, other chile powders could be used - Kashmiri, Serrano, Korean red chile, murupi amerela, or whatever you like. Chipotle would yield a very smoky and very hot pecan. Also, you could use a blend of chile powder for a more complex flavor profile. Just be careful not to use a bitter tasting chile or one with a bitter finish. What you taste in the chile is what you taste in the final product.
Maple syrup - You might be tempted to substitute the maple syrup with honey, but based on the experience of one of my friends, the honey becomes too thin when roasting and flows off the pecans onto the pan, taking the chile powder with it. So maybe not. Just stick with the maple syrup.
This is a good recipe to play around with different flavors. Have fun!
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen