Granola-Crusted Nuts

Thank you Smitten Kitchen (I think)!  These granola crusted nuts are sooo good and sooo addicting!  I am eating them by the handfuls (and so is the rest of my little family).  I have thrown portion control (let's be truthful, I'm not that great at portion control to begin with) out the window and I may end up eating the entire pan!

Granola Crusted Nuts

3/4 cup old-fashion rolled oats

1/4 cup shredded or flaked unsweetened coconut

2 tablespoons pepitas, or another nut or seed of your choice

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon water

2 cups walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a food processor, pulse oats, coconut, pepitas, sugar, cinnamon and salt in short burst until the mixture is very well chopped but not powdery.  In a large bowl beat egg white and water until frothy.  Add nuts to bowl and coat them very well, using a few more stirs than will seem necessary because if the egg doesn’t get into the craters of the nuts, no granola will stick there.  Pour oat mixture into bowl and very gently fold it together with nuts, so that it just barely sticks.  (Just a few folds will do, too much stirring and the granola coating will fall off the nuts.)  Spread nuts and granola on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle any granola mix leftover in the bowl over the nuts.  

Bake for 20-25 minutes (I kept mine in closer to 25 minutes), moving nuts around just once in the baking time.  Transfer pan to cooling rack and let nuts cool completely there.  Once cool, break up any nut clusters and place mixture in container or eat.

Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen