Chipotle Honey Roasted Peanuts

This is a recipe I ran across at FoodGawker, a great website devoted to pretty pictures of food. Of course, they link you to the website with the recipe. This recipe came from a blog called Recipe Rhapsody.

I've tried a few spiced nuts recipes in the past, they never worked out like I expected. This one came out perfectly and it's really, really good. Might be a bit spicy for some people, so adjust if you prefer less spicy.

CHIPOTLE HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chile powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound lightly salted dry roasted peanuts (16 ounce jar)

Stir together the sugar and next 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside. Stir together the butter, honey and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the peanuts until well-coated, then pour into a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish. (I used a glass dish sprayed with a little non-stick spray.)

Bake at 325 degrees about 30 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times to ensure even cooking. Once done, pour the peanuts into a large metal bowl and sprinkle with the spice mixture; toss until well-coated. Pour onto a large baking sheet to cool completely; stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Note: I later tried with unsalted roasted peanuts, the spice mixture did not stick to the peanuts as well, so stick with the lightly salted or salted roasted peanuts (the salt provides a rougher surface for the spices to stick to). If you use salted, reduce the added salt by half.