1/2cupbutterI use sweet cream Kerrygold, unsalted, organic
2teaspoonskosher salt
Instructions
Melt butter.
Toss pecans with the butter until evenly coated.
Place in an oven preheated to 275F.
Toast for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to ensure even cooking.
When done, place nuts on a cooling rack covered with paper towels.
Salt the toasted pecans to your liking.
Store in an airtight container when cool.
You can even freeze these for later use!
Video
Notes
*START LOW Keep the oven temperature below 300F so you don’t cook the nuts too fast. I prefer 250F or 275F but you might want to go even lower if the nut is smaller like a sunflower seed but I don’t recommend going below 200F as you will be there all day waiting for those nuts to toast.Lowering the temperature allows the nuts to toast evenly and all the way through. The only trade off is more time. But you get something in return for your patience, more flavor. *GO SLOW Proper toasting takes time. Start with 10-minute increments and see how they do. Small seeds take only a few minutes but larger nuts take time. For a sunflower seed, I might go for 20 minutes stirring in 5-minute increments. Letting the nuts toast slowly allows more time for the natural oils from the nuts to come out.*BUTTER Get some help from butter by adding some melted butter to the nuts. This adds another barrier between the heat and the surface of the nut. With the help of the butter blanket, your nuts will get a flavor boost and it helps the nut toast evenly. Let’s not forget that it helps the salt stick to the nuts better.*GET SALTY When your nuts are done toasting, salt them while they are hot! We want the salt to stick to the nuts, not fall off when you store them.If you are skeptical about salting the nuts, use it sparingly. Salt brings out the flavors of the food it is added to even if you are using it for sweet treats so I add it to all of my nuts.If you are on a salt-restricted diet or just don’t like more salt then leave it off the whole batch and add right before you add the nuts to your recipe.*KITCHEN HACKI make small foil baking trays so I can remove the smaller nuts and leave the larger ones in longer without having to remove the whole tray.