Let’s just run into the mall real quick. It’ll take five minutes. I need black pumps, a white shirt for your dad and…. um… a white…. um… nope, now I’m hungry. Are you hungry? What smells so good?

A hint: it’s these.

You know how it works. They pipe the smell of this stuff through the mall at the height of Christmas shopping season. And they offer free samples. You know, the first one’s free. Mm hmm. Well now you can just say no. Well, you don’t have to. You could actually buy some to eat while you’re shopping until you can come home and make more, which will have Craisins, making them even better.

I found this recipe at Buns in my Oven and went to the grocery store about an hour later. I had no idea these were so easy! Crazy good, crazy easy. Speakin’ my language.

So gather this (I roughly halved her recipe and added Craisins)

• 1 pound nuts, any kind – I used the 1.4 lb jar of mixed nuts
• 1 egg white, room temperature
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (this will not light you up. I promise)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 – 1 cup Craisins, depending on your level of love for them

Now do this:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F
2. Pour nuts (not Craisins) into a large bowl — bigger than you think you need so you have room to stir
3. In a small bowl whisk together egg white and water until frothy, then pour over nuts, stirring to coat
4. In another small bowl mix together sugars, salt, cayenne pepper and cinnamon, then sprinkle over nuts, stirring to coat
5. Spread nuts onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet; we’re going to bake for a total of 30 minutes
6. Bake for ten minutes and stir, then bake another ten minutes
7. Fold/stir in Craisins and bake another ten minutes
8. Move the sheet of parchment to a cooling rack, breaking up any giant clumps (little clumps are yummy) and allow nuts to cool completely before storing in an airtight container
9. Eat for breakfast, lunch, and supper. And snack
10. Put in Mason jars and give as tasty Christmas gifts. Try not to eat them in the car on the way to deliver them