Roasted Pecans

Set your oven to 300F.

Allow the oven to come up to heat.

If using the optional sugar, mix it with the simple syrup now.

Spread the pecans out in one layer on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil, parchment paper, a silpat, or nothing, and place the sheet pan in the oven.

Allow the pecans to roast in the oven.

Remove the pecans from the oven, and place them in a mixing bowl. Set the oven to 400F. Stir the pecans in the mixing bowl while adding the simple syrup and salt. Once the salt and simple syrup are evenly distributed, spread the pecans again in one layer on the lined sheet pan (it's important to line the pan this time as the pecans will be sticky and they shoudn't stick to the sheet pan). Once the oven is at 400F, once again put the sheet pan with the pecans in the oven.

Allow the pecans to roast. What we're accomplishing here is drying the simple syrup a bit while also carmelizing it. Even just a few minutes over 5 minutes will likely cause a little burning, so try to be strict on time.

Remove the pecans from the oven, removing the aluminum foil or parchment from the sheet pan and placing them somewhere to cool. You'll probably want to dislodge the pecans from the aluminum foil or parchment paper while they're still hot and the sugar is not super sticky.

Allow the pecans to cool.