I was trying to recreate this particular nut mix with the method from this recipe when I realized I’m out of maple syrup. So I had to make do with some Korean citron honey tea that was lying around. It worked out quite well and it did save me the trouble of zesting the orange.

Here’s what I did:

Take about 2 heaping teaspoons of the citron tea and mix in a little bit of warm water; just enough to make it into the consistency of maple syrup. Stir that into the pecans until well coated. Then mix in some fresh ground black pepper and a few pinches of ground cardamom. (Yeah, I know cardamom was not originally in the prepackaged kind, but I like it for the added kick.)

Spread the nuts on a foil-lined flat baking sheet in an even single layer and bake in a preheated 350^o oven for 10–15 minutes. Stir and flip the nuts every 5 minutes. Before the last five minutes, stir in a handful of dried cranberries and continue baking until toasted and most of the liquid absorbed. Foil bits sticking to pecans doesn’t taste very good, so cool just long enough to handle and transfer the nuts into a container.

Yum.  ^_^