THE NANZ’ MAKES KILLER PECANS.
Wait, backstory: when we were little, my sister Faye & I would go over to The Nanz’ ( aka my grandma ) house. All three of us would make pecans as gifts because my sister & I couldn’t afford presents yet. The whole experience was very much memorable: we’d turn on some Frank Sinatra holiday jams, drink Diet Rite ( OMG, remember Diet Rite? ), & whip up candy coated pecans.
Every Christmas since, I crave her pecans.
&…every Christmas since, I ask her to e-mail me the recipe.
But she’s chic & vintage and has her recipes written out ( #GOALS ). So usually we end up baking them together, reading off her faded index card.
Anyway, this year was the year I decided I HAD TO SHARE her recipe with you guys. IT’S SO GOOD YOU WILL DIE.
I MEAN obviously this one is near & dear to my heart so I really hope you love it.
Check out our hottie video:
Recipe? Glad you asked:
THE NANZ’ HOLIDAY PECANS:
1 egg white
1 pound pecan halves
1 tablespoon water
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
+ Directions: preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet. Beat together egg white & water until you get a frothy-like consistency. In a separate mixing bowl, mix up sugar, salt, cinnamon, & nutmeg. Slowly add pecan halves to egg whites, stirring to cover the nuts evenly. Toss everything into the sugar mix until it’s evenly coated. Delicately spread the pecans on the ready to go baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour ( checking on them regularly ). Stir every 15 minutes while in the oven. ENJOY!!
If you’re in a position where you can’t afford gnarly gifts for everyone ( trust me, I’ve been there ), make these pecans for friends and family.
The gesture is thoughtful & personal.
I promise guys, you can’t go wrong. They will be so busy stuffing their face with this treat they won’t even bat an eyelash about the price tag.
A tip from The Nanz ( we did this when we were little too ): wrap the pecans up in colorful cellophane wrapping ( she prefers blue ) & add a little curly ribbon ( she prefers white ). After that she recommends stuffing them into little tin boxes. When we were little we stuffed the cellophane baggies into tins covered with guardian angels. Then we made little gold name tags.
Cute right? For the record, if you can’t tell— I love my grandma so much! She is my absolute best friend for life. I’m so obsessed with her. Like I’d rather go out for skinny margaritas with her on Friday night than anyone else. She’s fun as shit.
Ok so, if you are having ANY holiday parties, MAKE THESE. If you’re not married, guys will be down on one knee ( right, Michael? He LOVES them ). Really just the perfect holiday treat.
Do any of you have a sweet, handwritten throwback recipe that you share with your grandparents? Would love to hear!
Until next time, lauryn x
SHOP MY OUTFIT: black lace dress ( sold out, similar ) | black nail polish | gold bangles | pearl earrings
+ SHOP THE NANZ’ OUTFIT BECAUSE SHE’S SO CUTE: red blazer | gold bangles | light pink nail polish
{ PC | VC }
precious! Best video yet. Happy holidays to all of you.
: ) my favorite one to make thus far! You too, Carla. xx
Oh wow this is just perfect! I was just looking up flavoured mixed nuts recipes to make for my dad for Christmas. Adding sweet pecans will make the mix that much more exiting! I’m sure he’ll love it.
Now I just need to find the way to substitute the egg white since I’m vegan. Any ideas or tips?
xxx Alex
Looks delicious, maybe you and the Nanz should put out a cookery book!
Awww I love this! Your Nanz rules and grandma’s recipes are always the best. Definitely gonna try this out!
Omg this is adorable
This is the cutest!
My Great Aunt Ruth used to be famous for her peanut butter/butterscotch marshmallow bars. They are SO BAD FOR YOU…basically a bunch of sugary shit mixed together into bar form. But they were so damn good and they always make me think of Christmas. Happy Holidays, Lauryn! xo
How adorable is your Nanz! And how insane does this recipe look? It looks perfect for giving as a homemade gift at parties and visits. Seeing the old recipe card was super nostalgic, and reminded me exactly of my grandmas recipe box 🙂
So sweet! My husband’s mother just brought over a recipe card the other day, however, it was written by my husband. His grandfather read him his own egg nog recipe right before he passed away and Eric wrote it down while listening over then phone to him; Eric was about 9 years old so almost 30 years ago! I love memories like that and having a written recipe is probably my favorite of them all!
The Nanz is to die for. Love when she’s in your snaps. I hope she made some for BJ.
I can totally tell you love her so much – I love when she shows up on your Snapchat. She’s so cute and you can tell how fun she is even in those few seconds!
I LOVE this post!!!!!!! Grandparents are so so so precious. Mine were my biggest heroes and my best friends. I’m so glad your so close with yours too. That’s wonderful.
Also, her pecan recipe looks fab! I’m always looking for fun little DIY gifts that I can make and give away around the holidays. I’ve made homemade granola, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and now this year I’ll make these. Can’t wait! Thanks for this post and thank your Nanz for sharing her secret recipe! 🙂
actually the cutest thing i’ve ever seen. kind of made me want to do this with my grandma over the holidays…& that recipe sounds like the perfect DIY gift!! 🙂
So super sweet! My grandma lives in the midwest so I don’t have the pleasure of baking with her but I look forward to her package of cookies and zucchini bread each year. Hands down my favorite Christmas present every year. One year she even sent me little index cards with the recipes written in her elegant handwriting. Simply the best. One day I will frame them.
How long will the pecans typically last? I would like to make them at home before traveling back to my hometown for the holidays but want to know if there is a finite timeframe to make these. Thanks!
This is THE sweetest thing. Lauryn, definitely a hit with this post. Will probably be trying this recipe out.
xoxo
Dana
The X Class – A Success Blog
http://www.thexclass.com
This is too cute!!
xx. The Coastal Confidence
http://the-coastalconfidence.com/
Could she be any cooler? Love her in the sunglasses! Your snaps of her are my fave. <3
Nanz is adorable! My Gram and I had a very special relationship too, and I miss her dearly. Aren’t those relationships the best?! She was also very chic and had all of her recipes written out. Treasured heirlooms! xo.
The video was seriously the cutest thing ever!! You and your nanz are soooo darling! My future mother in law makes spiced pecans that everyone loves too..reminds me of them!! 🙂 Hope you have a lovely day! XO
@stylemelauren
http://www.stylemelauren.com
Hands down your best video yet, Lauryn! It is so obvious the love you two have, and it is so, so, so, so adorable! I am ABSOLUTELY giving these a go. They sound absolutely divine and I LOVE that it is on a recipe card! Hope you and your family have an absolutely wonderful holiday season! xx SS
I love her SO much. More than Michael. HAHAHA. Just kidding, kind of. Thanks for reading, Shannon. xx
So cute you spend so much time with you Nana! She is so cute! xo C
This has got to be one of your best
posts just because it’s freaking adorable how much you love your
Grandma. I always make goodies for
My dad so I’m totally stealing this! I won’t feel as guilty since he’s diabetic
These pecans look so good! & such a cute video with the two of you. Loved it! <3
Lauren! i’ve been following your website for years – I’m in my fourth year of uni now and I swear that your clean eating helped so much! I’ve never commented before but I love this post too much to not. My grandma is really sick now, but when I was little we used to spend weeks together at christmas. This reminded me of how special those times were, thank you. You keep on doing amazing work to uplift and support women. xx
What a fun thing to do, you’ll hold that memory forever!
This is so so sweet. I love this so much and feel the same way about my grandma! They are the best in the world! Can’t wait to make this delicious treat! Xo