Cinnamon Sugar Nuts in the Crockpot

Before going into labor, I made a batch of cinnamon sugar nuts to gift to the nurses at the hospital. This recipe is one that I've seen numerous times on Pinterest and was curious if it could hold up to the claims of making the crunchy sweet nuts effortlessly in the crockpot. My post is part recipe, part craft project.  Here is how I did it...

Start by mixing 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 3 tablespoons cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

In another bowl, whip one egg white with 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

For this first batch I used 3 cups of whole raw almonds, but you could use any nut you like. (I made another batch with pecans for the holidays and they were wonderful!)

Toss the nuts with the frothy egg white mixture to coat.

Then toss the nuts with the cinnamon and sugar mixture to coat.

The original recipe says to spray the crock pot first with non stick spray, and I did that for this first batch but I'm not convinced it is a critical step.

Turn the crockpot to low and cook for three hours, covered, stirring the nuts every 30 minutes. The nuts get harder and harder to stir as the time goes by. After 3 hours, gently sprinkle in 1/4 cup of water over the nuts, and stir, cover and cook for another hour. Stir every 30 minutes.

The final step is to pour the nuts out on a cookie sheet, spread out in one layer and let them cool. The water makes the cinnamon sugar mixture crunchy! Once cooled, store in an airtight container.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to design custom packaging for these gifts.

I first printed on cream cardstock, then I ran it though the Cameo to cut in a scallop square with a dotted line down the middle to make it easy for me to fold over the baggies. You will see what I mean in a minute.

 You can do so much with the Silhouette, I absolutely love mine.

This would have taken me forever to do by hand!

I layered the packaging with some pattered card stock to give it some color and layers.

The last piece was pink silk ribbon that I cut about five inches long.

Once the nuts cooled, I divided them into snack size zip top bags.

Then I layered the patterned cadrstock folded over the top of the bag, then folded the ribbon over one side of the carstock, and added my custom packaging on the very top. To seal it all together I sent this through my sewing machine.

Voila! Custom gifts that were cheap and the nurses absolutely loved them!

Here is a close up photo of my stitch on top of the paper.

Not only were the nurses appreciative that I had thought of them, but many of them told me it was the only food they had during their shift!