Caramelized Spiced Almonds

Caramelized Spiced Almonds taste like German Christmas Market, but have a smooth instead of bumpy caramel, with deep and rich caramel flavour. They form beautiful, shiny clusters of cinnamon-spice crunchiness, that are great for snacking, gifting or even topping your morning oatmeal with.

 

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• Why You Will Love This
• The Ingredients
• How to Make This
• Meal Prep

Why You Will Love This 

TL;DR

These Caramelized Spiced Almonds are inspired by the classic aroma of German Christmas markets but feature a smoother, shiny caramel coating instead of the traditional lumpy sugar crust—making them more flavorful, tooth-friendly, and longer-lasting. They’re quick and easy to make in about 15 minutes with just a few ingredients, perfect for gifting or snacking, and can be customized with various nuts and spices.

Reminds you of German Christmas Markets

If you ever visited a German Christmas market and loved the smell of it, these are a big part of what wafted through the air. Often just made with cinnamon and sugar, caramelised, and formed into nubbly crusted almonds by stirring constantly and stopping at the just right point, they are at the heart of every visit.

But that bumpy crust is also the tricky part, as you need to catch the exact moment between sugar crystals and caramel, to achieve it. Also, I tend to find it not particularly kind to my teeth, as it’s a rather thick and hard layer. And more sugar than caramel flavour.
So I changed my technique a little, to still give you the spicy, Christmassy flavour and scent, but a shiny and dark caramel with a bit more flavour to it.

Great Gift

The smoother caramel has another advantage over the classic Christmas Market almonds: It keeps longer. Usually the Candied almonds you’d buy on the market are a sticky mess the day after. These Caramelized Spiced Almonds can be kept in an airtight container for over a week. Which makes them a great gift to make ahead. And aren’t homemade, edible gifts the best ones anyway?

Doesn’t take long

These Caramelized Spiced Almonds take just about 10-15 minutes to make and aren’t hard by any means. 4 ingredients (I count the spice mix as one. Plus you could, if you wanted, just use cinnamon) and a few minutes of melting sugar are all they take.

Ingredient Notes

• Almonds – For the most traditional treat you’ll need almonds. Ideally with their skin, as the caramel will adhere better than to skinned ones. Plus they keep more of their nutritional value.
• I know…it’s a treat, but still, we can mix the delicious with the good for us!
• You could use all sorts of other nuts and seeds you enjoy here too. I love cashews or macadamias, but even sunflower or pumpkin seeds work amazingly well.
• Sugar – I’ve used soft brown sugar here, for it’s higher molasses content, resulting in an even deeper caramel flavour. Caster sugar would be more traditional, as it melts faster due to the size of the grains.
• Spices – I’m using a mix of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ground ginger and nutmeg here. Balanced with a pinch of salt. And some vanilla extract. You could use just cinnamon, and they will still be utterly delicious.

And that’s already it. 

Equipment Used

Saucepan

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spatula

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sheet pan

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The Process

Line a sheet pan* with parchment paper.

Essentially you add the sugar and spices with a bit of water to a sauce pan*, let them come to a boil, then add the almonds.

Let it bubble away for a while, stirring now and then, until the water has evaporated, and the sugar crystallizes again. This is working as intended.

Now leave it on slightly lower heat, until the sugar begins to melt again. Gently fold over the almonds. Then leave to melt further.

At this point, if you’d like the nubbly consistency you find in the typical Christmas Market Almonds, you could stop when just parts are melted. But if you want the shiny look and deep brown caramel I opted for, keep stirring.

Be patient and wait until all the sugar is liquidized and transforming into a dark and shiny caramel. Stir again, so all almonds are coated evenly.

Once it has reached the desired darkness without burning, carefully pour the mass onto your parchment lined baking sheet and spread it out with a spatula. My ideal shape is mostly one layer of almonds with the occasional overlap. But arrange them however you enjoy them.

Be quick and careful though, the caramel is very hot and firms up quickly.

Let them cool entirely until crunchy and hard. Then break into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week. The almonds will still be delicious after, but the caramel might start to soften a little and not look as shiny anymore.

Meal Prep

I love to prepare a jar full of these for snacking. Careful though, they are dangerously addictive!
And of course to top my Apple Cinnamon Protein Oatmeal for an over-the-top breakfeast treat.

Other recipes you might enjoy

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please share and comment. It helps me a lot.

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