Cocoa Roasted Almonds

Once my younger brother and I moved out for college, the refrigerator and pantry underwent a fairly substantial makeover. Boxes of Life, Corn Flakes, and Frosted Mini Wheats disappeared from the cereal shelf; Nature Valley granola bars and Chewy Chips Ahoy sleeves vanished from the snack bins; and the jars of peanut butter in the pantry magically transformed into almond butter in the refrigerator.  

Eventually, my parents began to repopulate the snack shelves. Dad supplied the peanuts and pistachios while Mom stocked the gluten-free crackers and cookies. A few months later, Mom also started to buy nuts for the bins, but due to her allergies to peanuts and walnuts, she stuck to cashews and almonds.

With her busy work and travel schedule, she looked for snack-size packages that were easily transportable, ones that she could slip into her purse to nibble on during the commute home from work or a plane flight instead of the complementary peanuts.

She sampled 100-calorie packs of flavored almonds, one with cinnamon and the other cocoa, and now she consistently keeps at least one box of each in the pantry. I always steal a few packages when I visit! One with breakfast, another while waiting for dinner, and as many as I can sneak when we run errands. I am my mother’s daughter!

Since I know how quickly those snacks disappear when we’re both under the same roof (daily trips to the grocery store are practically a necessity!), I created a similar recipe for a big batch of my own Cocoa Roasted Almonds. With just 3 ingredients and 20 minutes to make, they’re almost as dangerous to keep around!

With how easy this snack is to make, it’s almost a “non” recipe. Toast almonds; then toss them in barely sweetened cocoa powder. The first part is my favorite. Walking around the kitchen, smelling the sweet nutty aroma lightly wafting from inside of the oven… It’s almost as tempting as the smell of cookies! Almost. But not quite. (It’s practically impossible to beat the taste of one of these fresh from the oven!)

Then comes the cocoa shower. I was rather doubtful at first, wondering if the cocoa would actually stick to the almonds, but somehow it magically did. Coating the nuts in a dusty layer of chocolate was pure bliss!

It’s important to toast the almonds first before rolling them around in the cocoa powder bath. If you do things in the opposite order, the cocoa begins to melt a little in the oven, gives the nuts tiny dark freckles, and forms a thin, crispy chocolate blanket on the bottom of the pan. They still taste the same, but for the prettiest almonds, toast them first!

In just 20 minutes, you can have a batch of these gourmet-looking Cocoa Roasted Almonds sitting on your countertop! If you double or triple the recipe, you’ll have plenty to give away as last-minute holiday gifts to friends and neighbors, plus enough left over for you to enjoy too.

Or maybe too many, in my case…

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More chocolate almond recipes from other bloggers…

♥   Chocolate-Almond Steel Cut Oatmeal by Very Culinary

♥   Chocolate Almond Date Balls by Something Swanky

♥   Caramelized Almond Chocolate Bark by Bakery by Nature

♥   Vegan Almond Joy Hot Chocolate by The Almond Eater