Weekend Cooking: Spiced Almonds

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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Because everyone is still pretty much in vacation mode or frantically pulling the house back together before returning to work or school or whatever constitutes real life, today's Weekend Cooking post is going to be short and sweet.

First, I want to thank everyone for their continued support of this little meme. I love all your posts and blogs and look forward to new discoveries from you each week. I'm not planning any changes here, but I do hope to include more cookbook reviews in 2015. Here's wishing all of you a happy, healthy, foodie new year.

I've written about three of Ellie Krieger's cookbooks on this blog (So Easy, The Food You Crave, Weeknight Wonders), so it might not come as a big surprise that today's recipe is one of hers.

We were invited to a Christmas open house in early December and were asked to bring something to munch on. I had no clear idea of what I wanted to make, so decided to do some Web browsing for Krieger appetizers. All it took was one look at this recipe and I knew I had a winner.

We took these easy-to-make spicy almonds to the party and then I made another batch for my New Year's Eve party. They were a hit at both events.

Spiced Almonds
Yield: 2 cups (about 8 servings)

• 2 cups whole unsalted almonds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (or to taste)

Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a bowl.

In a small bowl stir together the cumin, garlic powder, cayenne, and salt. Heat the oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Stir the spices into the oil and cook, stirring until warm, about 30 seconds. Add the almonds and cook, stirring frequently until the nuts are warm and the spices are evenly distributed. Add the hot pepper sauce and stir to distribute. Remove the almonds from the pan and allow them to cool before serving.