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The first time I tried rosemary roasted nuts, I was traveling on business.  A woman brought some from home and was kind enough to share a few of them during a late night session.  I LOVED them!

 Those nuts had EVERYTHING! 

The sweet, the salty, the heat, the savoriness. 

Once in awhile I’d see rosemary roasted almonds in the store, but they paled in comparison to those mixed nuts I remembered.  They just didn’t have the flavor complexity. 

With the holidays upon us, I knew I had to figure out how to recreate them.  And I have to say, I think I got the recipe just right.  In fact,  they might have even turned out better than the original. I’m giving them as gifts and serving them at our holiday party.  

Now before we turn to the recipe, it turns out that there are sooo many benefits to nuts. Per Dr. Mark Hyman – head of Functional Medicine at Cleveland Clinics – nuts aren’t the junk food people may think they are.

Nuts can help you lose weight – WHAT? Yes!!! In a 28 month study published in OBESTIY journal, people who ate a handful of nuts 2+ times per week actually were 30 percent less likely to have gained weight than those who rarely or never ate nuts.

Walnuts are highest in the anti-inflammatory omega 3’s. Walnuts are  good for everything from bone health to cancer prevention to blood sugar control, but the main benefit is to our arterial function. So you know, I’m eating a lot of them.

This recipe incorporates a variety of nuts and seeds and each nut brings its special nutrition into the mix. Check out more about nuts and their benefits right here.

This recipe is super easy and takes about 15 min to make start to finish!  Feel free to vary the nuts with what you have on hand.   You will need a total of 1 pound or about 3 1/2 cups of nuts.  And be sure you start with raw nuts. The maple syrup provides just the right amount of stickiness for the spices and rosemary to adhere to the nuts.

Now on to the recipe!

Ingredients

1 pound or 3 1/2 cups of assorted unsalted nuts 

(This time I used 1 cup walnuts, 1 cup almonds, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/2 cup pepitas)

1 Tbsp avocado oil or butter

3 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

1 1/2  Tbsp maple  syrup

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp of smoked paprika

1 tsp of Himalyan salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, toss nuts with oil or melted butter and spread out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. While nuts roast, mix rosemary, maple syrup, cayenne, smoked paprika and salt in a bowl. Add hot roasted nuts and toss to coat. Allow nuts to cool.  Serve!