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What Are Cinnamon Almonds?

J. Airman
J. Airman

Cinnamon almonds are almonds coated with a layer of sugar and cinnamon with an agent to help the candy stick to the almond. These treats are sometimes also called candied almonds and are a common snack served at parties. Usually, cinnamon almonds come in whole form, rather than in pieces or slices, for easy bite-size finger-food snacking. Cinnamon almonds are available for purchase in some grocery stores, often in the bulk or natural snacks section, but can also be easily made at home. Some cinnamon candies have a spicy bite, but cinnamon candied almonds are usually mainly sweet, not spicy hot, with a light flavor and a crispy sugary crunch.

Though this sweet dessert delight usually employs granulated sugar as a sweetening agent, other variations of cinnamon almonds may include honey in addition to granulated sugar. The tricky part of making cinnamon almonds is sticking the mixture to the almonds. To get the mixture of sugar and cinnamon to stick to the nuts, they are first stirred in frothed egg whites until they are coated, then sprinkled liberally all over with sugar and cinnamon and baked in the oven to roast the almonds and crisp the coating. Some recipes for cinnamon almonds use a mixture of sugar, cinnamon and cream of tartar to coat the almonds. Usually, the almonds used to make cinnamon almonds are raw or unblanched almonds, but some recipes call for roasted almonds.

Almonds.
Almonds.

Cinnamon is a spice made from the bark of the cinnamon tree, of which there exist several different varieties. This ingredient has been used for many centuries throughout the history of mankind's exploration with food and flavor. It is commonly used ground into a powder, but can also be found in sticks. These sticks can either be ground fresh to spice food or used whole to stir and flavor hot drinks. Of the many types of cinnamon, ceylon cinnamon is the most common type and the only type considered to be a true cinnamon.

Cinnamon sticks.
Cinnamon sticks.

The focal point of the cinnamon almond snack, almonds are not actually technically nuts, but a type of stone fruit that is used like a nut, also called a drupe. In addition to their use as a snack, almonds can be ground into a powder used similarly to flour or pressed to extract almond milk. Most almonds purchased in the United States are grown in the western coastal state of California. Almonds are harvested in the fall season, when the soft skins on the outsides begin to split. The ripe nutty fruits are removed from the trees by shaking them until they fall out.

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    • Almonds.
      By: 1999istek
      Almonds.
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      By: Natika
      Cinnamon sticks.