Tea Glazed Almonds

I realized I had used a lot of nuts in my cooking lately--bananas, coconut & pecans--sticky buns for Sunday morning breakfast (which I will post)--chocolate pie with pecans. I love eating them raw or toasted or in a cooked dish--sweet or savory. Have been eating raw almonds for a few years because I had read they were healthy. At first I didn't really think I would care for them raw & then learned how very delicious they are. So, now I keep raw almonds in my desk & munch them throughout the day. I also love tea and when this months shipment of Gunpowder Tea arrived from Adagio I had a brainstorm. I had made different versions of spiced pecans, walnuts & almonds before so thought I would do a tea glaze for almonds. If you have ever "glazed" almonds or other nuts before you know it is a pretty simple process. Since I really do like the flavor of tea I decided to use the actual tea to flavor the almonds. Here is the recipe & the procedure--short & sweet

1 Cup Raw Almonds
1/4 cup white sugar
1 Teaspoon Gunpowder Tea
Dash of Salt

Process the sugar, salt & tea in a mini food processor until the tea is broken into smaller pieces. Place the almonds & sugar mixture in a pan over medium heat. It takes me about 15 minutes on my cooktop to complete the process of having the sugar melt & stirring the almonds to thoroughly coat. Once the sugar starts to melt, keep the almonds moving until all of the sugar is melted and the almonds are coated. You really can't walk away from this process. When the sugar does start to melt, lower the heat to finish. When the cooking is finished turn almonds out onto waxed paper in a single layer. It won't take long for them to cool & dry. The glazing also toasts the almonds & they are delicious. If you don't like tea you could leave it out or add something like cinnamon. I entered this recipe in the Adagio Tea Chef contest for the month. The Gunpowder does make a good cup of tea and it is great iced too.
To view some creative ways to use tea visit the Adagio site @

http://teachef.com/view-recipe.html?recipe=175