domestic dilettante, humorless feminist shrew

A few days ago, the Marx Food blog announced that they were having a vanilla bean photography contest.

This is a list of things I like: corporate blogs that actually add value instead of just saying “Hey, we have stuff! Buy it!”; vanilla; photography.

Obviously, I emailed, begging entry space. And hey, lucky me, I got in! So today, I got a dozen vanilla beans in the mail. We have until the 21 to submit a photo, which means that it’s time to get cracking.

I’ve been playing around with possible holiday gifts the past few days, so my mind went right to more delicious things to give people. Over the weekend, I made some rosemary walnuts that were pretty good, and I thought maybe I could recreate their success with pecans.

Sweet and Salty Vanilla Pecans
3 Tbsp sugar
1 vanilla bean (I used a Madagascar bean)
1 cup pecans
scant 3/4 tsp salt (if you’re not so keen on salt, knock it down to 1/2 tsp. I do not suggest increasing it–I love salt, and even I think that more would be too much.)
1 Tbsp butter

To start, you’re going to split the vanilla bean down the middle, just like the lead picture shows. (I love that picture so much, btw. I didn’t expect it to come out that well, and I might end up entering that in the contest. Opinions?)

Using the dull side of a knife, drag your knife down the bean, removing the seeds. Set the pods aside–later, you can either toss them in a bit of water and simmer it on the stove to make the house smell amazing, or you can bury the pods in some sugar and end up with vanilla sugar.

Using your fingers, rub the vanilla into the sugar until it’s well integrated. Mix in the salt at this time, as well.

This is what it looks like when it’s all mixed up. (My sugar is slightly more speckled than most, as I used Real Salt, which I love.)

So you have your pecans and your sugar mixture, and you’re ready to go.

Melt your butter in a large skillet over medium heat. As soon as the butter’s melted, throw in the pecans and the sugar mixture, and stir it well. Then you can leave it alone for a minute or two. (That’s a literal minute or two, by the way. Don’t go into the other room, just stop stirring. Go wash the cutting board and come back.)

After a few minutes, the pecans will look like they look in the picture above. The sugar will look sort of gross and grey, and you’re going to be wondering why the heck you thought it was a good idea to listen to some person on the internet. Fear not, my friends. This is exactly what you’re supposed to be thinking here. It’s part of my cunning plan to delight you all with the surprise twist and feel-good ending!

Start stirring again here. It’s less of a feel-good ending if your sugar burns. From here until the pan’s off the heat, you can just keep stirring.

Okay, maybe it’s less a surprise twist and more “caramelization happens when you heat sugar”. Anyhow, this isn’t a good picture. The light is all funny, and it’s not even really in focus, but so it goes. Right in the middle of the shot, you can see what’s meant to happen here: the sugar has melted and mixed with the butter, turning into delicious, liquidy caramel.

Not seeing it? Try crossing your eyes like for one of those seeing eye things, maybe. There’s delicious caramel in there, I swear it.

Once all of the sugar has melted, take the pan off the heat and give it one last real good stir. Then, using a fork, spread your pecans onto a silpat or piece of parchment paper. (Or tinfoil, or whatever. I’m not judging.) Separate the nuts as much as possible. USE A FORK.

Yeah, guess who thought they could probably just do it with their finger, real fast. Guess who burnt their finger! (Hint: it’s me.)

Sprinkle the nuts with a little bit of sugar to make them look a little sparkly.

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Let the pecans cool fully before you attempt to package them or eat them. Store in an airtight container. Try not to eat them all before the gift-giving starts.