Toast Your Nuts!

Nuts on their own are delicious, but toasting them adds crunch and depth to the texture and flavor. Just heat a pan to medium high, add a single layer of nuts, stir frequently until golden brown and smell mouth-watering.

A few more nutty tips:

• I always toast nuts in the oven. I burned many a nut cooking them in a skillet on the stove! The stove top method requires a lot of attention, as the nuts often scorch before they develop a good flavor inside.
• No need to add oil. If there is a coat of oil on the outside, the nuts may not stay crisp once cool.
• You can toast nuts in advance and keep in an airtight container until your ready to use them again. The flavor and texture keeps if they were fully cool before you store them.
• If you don’t plan to use nuts within a week or two of buying them, store them in the freezer. Nuts are very oily, and that oil is eager to go rancid. The freezer will stop this from happening any time soon.