The Perfect Snack To Perk You Up

If you love ginger, you'll completely devour this addictive afternoon snack. Three forms of ginger come together to season nutty almonds with just the right balance of flavor: fresh ginger for brightness, crystalized ginger for sweetness and powdered ginger for warmth. As one, this flawless combination rounds off with a peppery bite that'll keep you coming back for more.

Triple Ginger Almonds

Recipe by Andrea Tutunjian and Cara Tannenbaumm coauthors of In a Nutshell

 Makes 3 cups

Ingredients

1 c. sugar

3 Tbsp. finely grated fresh ginger

4 tsp. ground ginger

1 c. (4 oz.) finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 c. (15 oz.) whole almonds

1/2 c. water

Directions

Stir the sugar, 1/2 cup water and fresh ginger together in a medium skillet. Bring to a boil over high heat, forming a clear sugar syrup. Continue to boil for 3 minutes, then remove the skillet from the heat. Cover and steep the ginger in the syrup for 15 minutes.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the syrup into a bowl; discard the ginger. Return the syrup to skillet, place over medium heat, and bring back to a boil.

Whisk in the ground ginger and salt. Stir in the almonds. Continue cooking over medium heat for about 15 minutes stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula. (The syrup will stick to the almonds and reduce.)

When a small amount of liquid remains in the bottom of the pan, stir in the crystallized ginger. Eventually no syrup will remain, and the sugar adhering to the nuts will begin to crystallize.

When the nuts have been coated completely with sugar and have whitened/crystallized, continue cooking for about 5 minutes to re-melt and caramelize the sugar.

Scrape the nuts evenly onto a prepared pan and cool. Using two forks, separate them, being careful to leave the ginger intact.

The cooled almonds can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

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