Lavender-Candied Pecans and a Delicious Dessert

I know, it sounds weird, but I assure you these are absolutely delicious!  I wanted to make candied, spiced pecans to top a dessert I was making and spied a jar of lavender in my spice rack.  I thought "why not?"  I came up with this little recipe and it was part of a dessert inspired by Silan (date honey from Israel.  Read on for the recipe and the final dessert :-)




Makes 2 cups candied pecans
Ingredients:

1 egg white

1T water

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp whole lavender ( measured as whole flowers then ground using a mortar and pestle)

2 cups pecans

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 250 F and line a pan with a silpat or a greased sheet of parchment.  In one bowl, whisk the egg with the water until very frothy and opaque.  Meanwhile, In another bowl mix the sugar, salt, and ground lavender.

2) Add all of the pecans to the egg whites and toss to coat.  Then use a fork to pick out all of the pecans and toss them into the sugar mixture.  Coat with the sugar then lay them onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer, NO TOUCHING (Arrested Development anyone?).  

3) Bake for about an hour, or until browned, rotating the tray halfway through.  

4) Allow to cool,  and store at room temp.  Enjoy!

I also made a Panna Cotta (an Italian dessert that is almost like pudding) using this recipe.  Then I chopped up some black mission figs and the end result was -Vanilla bean panna cotta with lavender-candied pecan, black mission figs and a drizzle of date honey.  I didn't make the panna cotta in time to have it firm enough to unmold from the ramekins, but it still tasted yummy!