{Healthy Holiday Recipe} Fat Loss Friendly Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
Every year, my Dad makes homemade cinnamon sugar pecans (pecans that my granddad shells, by the way – it’s a team effort) and given them out as part of his Christmas gifts. They are both delicious and addicting, the perfect blend of cinnamon, sugar, crunch, and PECAN!
But let’s be honest, those babies are not exactly fat loss friendly.
So this year I decided to see if I could find a way to make them more friendly and less guilty….
{Healthy Holiday Recipe} Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
Ingredients:
- 1 C xylitol crystals (NOT the liquid)
- ½-1 T cinnamon (1 T cinnamon will leave you with a VERY strong cinnamon taste, which is just the way I like it 😉 )
- Pecans
- Egg Whites
- Water
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
- In a small bowl, pour 2-3 egg whites. Add in about 1 T water and whisk until frothy (note: you are NOT making a meringue, so no “stiff peaks,” just frothy)
- In a large Ziploc, pour xylitol and cinnamon. Shake to mix evenly.
- One handful of pecans at a time, drop into egg wash and mix to coat.
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop coated pecans out of the egg wash, and lightly shake to remove excess egg wash
- Drop ONE SLOTTED SPOONFUL AT A TIME into cinnamon/xylitol and shake to coat.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: The pecans should have a dry appearance and should NOT appear moist. If they appear moist, there was too much egg wash or the cinnamon/xylitol mixture has been oversaturated and needs to be refreshed.
- Arrange on cookie sheet that was pre-greased with non stick/no calorie aerosol
- Repeat process until cookie sheet is full
- Bake at 275 for 1.5-2hours
- Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool completely (mine took overnight)
Enjoy! (Store in Ziploc in fridge for longer lasting freshness.)
Note: These make great gifts, are great for dessert/holiday party defense, and are wonderful to add to your holiday buffet. 🙂