Believe it or not, Christmas just ended for us this weekend. Among the many holiday parties and dinners and gift swaps, we had just one more to get under our belt before everyone had their gifts.

We had some of our closest friends over Saturday night with the usual potluck and open bar. Some of my contributions included highlights from our annual holiday snack box. For those of you unfortunate enough not to receive one, it’s just a box with the staples of holiday grazing: sausage balls, bourbon balls, an assortment of cookies, and these spiced pecans.

Pecans: The Crown of Southern Cooking

Now, I don’t need to tell you how ubiquitous pecans are in Southern cooking, because it’s obvious why. Buttery, versatile, they’re the crowning glory of this part of the world. They work their way into just about any cookie, cake or pie. Shoot, I’ve had pecans on cabbage.

My grandfather on my father’s side had a recipe for pecan biscuits—which as both a fan of pecans and biscuits, I’m shocked I haven’t had yet.

This year for Christmas I bought six pounds of pecans. Six pounds! You’d be surprised how quickly they get used up between Lane cakes and turtleback cookies. Someone showed me their pecan harvest off their family place. Different boxes were labeled identifying the tree the nuts came from and I got to tell you, I’ve never seen so many pecans at one time. We used to live on a pecan grove and I somehow never managed to see that many at one time, unless they were on the ground.

A Holiday Staple: Spiced Pecans

Every year for Christmas these spiced pecans always get made, and I mean always. The poles would probably switch overnight if these weren’t among the treats on the counter. Although they’re great under the Christmas lights, they’re just as good when Cupid starts flying around this time of year.

Throw a candy dish out with these at a cocktail party and you’ve got a snack you can’t buy off the shelf, because it’s better.

Spiced Pecans

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 Tablespoon citrus zest

• 1 pound pecan halves

• 4 Tablespoons butter

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

• 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar (optional)

• 2 Tablespoons water

Instructions

Mix salt and spices.

Cook pecans 4–5 minutes in a large skillet, until toasted and fragrant. Add butter, stirring to melt. Add spices, sugar and water. Cook to thicken, 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spread in one layer onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cool completely.

Notes & Reflections

Store these pecans in an airtight container if you aren’t going to use them right away. To cite my source, this actually comes from our personal cookbook—which is really just a notebook we’ve added to over the years. This is a recipe John Allan contributed a few Christmases ago when we went on a tear archiving our essential holiday recipes.

These really won me over with the spice that really pushes these nuts into a savory territory, which can be a nice reprieve from the sugarcoated celebrations of December. Even though there’s sugar in these, it doesn’t overwhelm them, it’s just a means of coating the pecans in all those wonderful spices.

Honestly, this entire recipe takes about 10 minutes. At that rate, you always have a quick little something to whip up for whatever you’re going to. I don’t know why I don’t wield this recipe more often when there’s a little get-together.

These go excellent with whatever you’ve got in your glass, spirited or otherwise. If there’s a section in your recipe box for “Quick Recipes”, this one should be front and center. That and Watergate salad, but that’s for another column.