All the way from kindergarten till I was ready to go to college, I went to a catholic school. Skirts five inches below the knee and hair tightly tied into two side ponytails with a ribbon matching the school uniform, catholic school. A huge Christmas celebration in the courtyard of the convent and the school chapel twinkling of red, green and yellow Christmas lights for the whole month of December, catholic school. So having grown in a country where Christians were in minority, although never considered so, I have been celebrating Christmas since I was wise enough to know what Diwali is.
Although that was not why right after burning the last box of fireworks on Diwali I would cross my fingers, hold the breath and eagerly wait for December. Santa visited us in our classrooms with a bag full of gifts, which unfortunately were a sad book and a pack of color pencils, every year. Neither was it due to the beautiful sound of Christmas carols students would practice exactly during our geography class. But it was mainly because of the sweet and insanely aromatic fruit cake distributed to everyone at school a day before Christmas. With a light tinge of orange color, it was like a pound cake although not as airy and light with specks of red cherries, orange peaches and green (something!) here and there. There was a thick slice for every student with a tiny bag of toasted sweet nuts. Now that I look back, I understand that those little Christmas treats were not exactly a culinary genius but for my ten year old self that was the highlight of my December.
A few days back while listening to the butterfly’s story of how her PE teacher, coach George, turns into a Santa on Christmas and also thinking of a Christmas gift for friends this year, I went back to that thick slice of fruit cake and the bag of sweet nuts. So I thought lets toast some sweet pecans. Now, since I’m not a ten year old anymore, I have the freedom of boozing it all up. So I popped open a bottle of Abhishek’s most treasured bourbon and poured it on my pecans. I still felt that the punch from that single barrel Kentucky beauty was not strong enough, so I threw in some cayenne too which beautifully brought in both a kick and smokiness.
So this is it! This is going to be filled in boxes, wrapped, packed and sealed to be carried to friends with a bottle of wine or his favorite bourbon probably. What’s going into your Christmas package this year?
Ingredients:
250 gm pecan halves
2 1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar (brown sugar works equally fine)
2 tablespoon good quality bourbon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Method:
Preheat oven to 300 deg. F.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in palm sugar (brown sugar). Mix well.
Add bourbon. Mix. Cook for 1 minute.
As it starts to bubble, stir in pecans.
Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Cook in the oven for 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes.
Pull out of the oven. Let it cool slightly.
In a bowl, mix sugar and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle over pecans. Toss to coat.
Done!
Looks awesome, thanks for the helpful article and sharing with us
greenveggy deliver fresh fruits and vegetables with in three hours in gurgaon..
Bourbon and spicy. Sounds awesome already!
Your article is very helpful thank you very much for sharing .
Love the pecans with Blanton’s! My husband is a true bourbon connoisseur and he would love this. Thanks for posting- love your site!
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table,but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
Mango Juice
beautiful idea!
http://duecuoriinpadella.blogspot.it/
Wow this has such a vintage feel to it… had been drooling over the Instagram upload earlier!
Thanks for such great and awesome recipe!! It looks delicious and perfect!!
This is just a perfect treat to spice up our day a little bit specially during this cold season.
I loved the recipe but my only reservation is the use of alcohol…..will there be any difference if I make it without it ?….I have recently started to follow ur blog….love the recipes, the photographs the entire site and especially the way u knit a beautiful story with ur every recipe. All these details leads to a beautiful post…
I, too, love your stories. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Prerna,
Came across your site while blog hopping…glad that I stumbled on a beautiful site with interesting recipes and impressive clicks. The bourbon flavored pecan are tempting!!!
These look delicious. The flavor sounds intriguing.
Sweet & Spicy Kiss must be interesting Prerna !!
Looks amazing with great sense of photography. thanks for sharing
Beautiful writing and a fantastic, easy recipe- I’m going to have to get some bourbon to try this out!
I can smell it baking in the oven! It looks amazing ….. Thanks for sharing
That looks absolutely fantastic! my mouth is watering just by looking at the pictures, thanks a lot for sharing the recipe!
TY a ton for posting this, it was unbelieveably informative and told me a lot
Sat Work Chess Game
They tasted so good. Lovely recipe. I will make it without alcohol for now.
So gorgeous Prema. Happy New YEar! I bet.. if they diwali about gifts a little bit, I think the folks living overseas would be more into Diwali, at least the younger generation. I love CHristmas, it’s hard not to love it living in the US.
Absolute beauty! Please keep on enticing us with your stories, recipes and beautiful photographs. Wishing you a very Happy New Year Prerna:)
Gorgeous recipe.I loved that you used coconut palm sugar. I hope you have a wonderful New Year!
Absolutely love your photography, and the stories you tell about your childhood add such a great touch to every post!
Such pretty photographs, Prerna. The nuts look like the perfect holiday snack to entertain with.
I studied at a convent too and can relate to all your memories. we never got fruitcake though:( but the dundee cake from monginis bakery more than made up for it. Love the pecans this way, awesome gift idea.
No doubt about it. Making these this week.Thanks!
I don’t celebrate Christmas either and went to a catholic school, so can totally relate to your story. Lovely post
This looks great and your writing adds tom it. Thanks.
Love the props and the story, Prerna..as someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas too, I am drawn in by the aroma of baking this time of the year 🙂
I love anything that is sweet and spicy. You made it look so delicious.
spiced nuts are perfect this season although I have not had the boozy type yet.
Divine and addictive!
Cheers,
Rosa