Spiced Cashew Nuts (Anguilla)

This is the recipe for food gift giving, snack nuts for a party and just for dressing up your raw almonds, cashews or walnuts. Caribbean Spiced Nuts infuses any favourite nuts with delicious coconut oil and a mixture of the perfect smoky flavours. Start with the spice mix of smoked paprika, ground thyme, oregano, onion and garlic powder just to get you started. Finish off with a dash of liquid smoke and then fresh squeezed lime juice. The spice mix blend yields enough for several uses but we loved these so much that I used it all up within a few days. We experimented with almonds and cashews as you can see but we are sure Caribbean Spiced Nuts can be created with walnuts, macadamia nuts or even hazelnuts. Ready to eat in just a few minutes, but letting them sit overnight allows the coconut oil to harden nicely with the spices, especially if packaging them for gifts.

2 cups plain unsalted cashews, or almonds
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
¼ tsp. liquid smoke
1 ½ Tbsp. Caribbean spice mix
1 lime, freshly squeezed

In a large sauté pan, melt the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the nuts, ¼ tsp. liquid smoke and 1½ Tbsp. spice mix.

Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until nuts are toasted. Take off heat and sprinkle another dash of salt over the nuts.

When nuts have cooled, squeeze fresh lime juice over the spiced nuts.

Store remaining spice mix in airtight container to be used another time.

Makes 2 cups.