Mom's Spiced Pecans

These are the pecans of my childhood.  I knew the holidays were on the way when the house started to smell like toasty nuts and Worcestershire Sauce.  

In reality its a simple recipe.  (I think something like it use to come on Worcestershire Sauce bottles.)

This year the pecans were particularly moist, so I had to bake them extra long to get them toasty.  In an attempt to get more organized this year, I tracked down my several versions of the recipe.  Turns out I have versions of the recipe tucked everywhere, and every single one has different times, with another time written in parentheses beside it.  Clearly different moisture content of pecans is a perennial issue.  Because it is so variable, keep an eye (well a nose really) on the pecans so they don't turn into little chunks of charcoal.  If you smell toasty nuts get them out right away!

The Recipe - Mom's Spiced Pecans

Equipment: 

baking sheet or large shallow pan

small bowl for meeting butter

Ingredients:

1 lb pecans

2 Tbs butter
2 tsp seasoning salt
4 dashes chipotle Tabasco (+ 1 or 2 of regular Tabasco)

3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Prep:

Melt the butter, stir in the seasoning salt and Tabasco(s).
Pour over the pecans on the baking sheet, and toss with clean hands until all the nuts are well coated.
Spread the nuts out into a single layer.

Cook!
Preheat the oven to 300˚F.
Bake the nuts for 16 minutes.
Take them out and sprinkle on the Worcestershire sauce, stir the nuts so they all get a little sauce.
Return the nuts to the oven for 10 minutes.  Check and see if a cooled test nut is crispy and toasty.  Some years you may need to bake them for up to 20 minutes.