Today I’m sharing my family’s recipe for crockpot cinnamon pecans that we make every year for the holidays:
I played around with the original recipe to make it much healthier and lower in sugar, and no one could tell a difference.
That’s my goal with all of the recipes I publish here on the blog.
It’s a sign of a successful healthy dessert if the people to whom you serve it don’t feel like they’re missing anything and would gladly pick the healthy version over the original.
These slow cooker pecans–completely vegan and free of refined sugar–make such an excellent gift.
People appreciate the cinnamon pecans because they are homemade and taste delicious… and all you have to do is throw everything in the slow cooker and sit back as the machine does all the work for you!
Also Try This Healthy Sweet Potato Bread
This family-favorite Christmas recipe is one of the three recipes I made for my holiday recipe appearance on Dr. Oz this past month.
Here are a few more photos from my segment on The Dr. Oz Show.
Craft stores such as Michaels or JoAnn are great places to go if you want to package the pecans up and hand them out as gifts.
Most craft stores will sell holiday-themed paper and tin boxes (like the santa box above) at a pretty good price.
Another option is to place the nuts in clear bags tied with holiday ribbons. I could honestly spend hours in craft stores.
**If you don’t have a crock pot, I’ve also included oven instructions in the recipe below.
Cinnamon Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups sliced raw pecans, or other raw nuts
- optional 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Slow Cooker Version: Lightly coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray. Place all ingredients except pecans inside, and stir to combine. Stir in the nuts, and turn the heat to low. Put the lid on and cook 2 hours, stirring once after the first hour. Remove the lid and stir, then cover again and continue cooking an additional hour on low. Pour the contents onto a cookie sheet or large platter, and break up any large clumps. Allow to cool completely, and they will harden as they cool. Transfer to decorative tins for gifts.Oven Version: Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Stir together all ingredients in a large bowl, then spread out on the cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes, turn with a spoon, then bake another 5-10 minutes as needed. Store leftovers in a decorative tin for up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 4 months.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Easy Holiday Recipes:
Snowball Cookies – 60 calories each
This sounds delicious! And you are totally right about these being great gifts for people! I’m just sad I used such a high sugar recipe earlier this month. Now that I see your recipe, however, I’m dying to try it out!
This looks and sounds absolutely incredible! It makes me want Christmas to happen all over again!
Is there a difference in texture between the slow cooker version and in the oven?
Absolutely fantastic. I will make them over and over. Congratulations on the Dr. Oz show, hopefully this will be encouragement for others to eat healthier.
In your instructions you say to remove the lid after 1 hour, stir and continue cooking another hour. Just wanted to make sure that I should replace the lid before continuing to cook. Thanks, they sound great.
Yup, replace the lid!
Vicki I have the same question? What did you do?
I had the same question also, do you return the lid after stirring?
Yes, put the lid back on. Katie is going to edit that to be more clear.
Jason (media relations)
Yum, Katie! I’m completely obsessed with cinnamon pecans. My mom made a huge batch at Christmas and we devoured it. So glad to have this lower sugar recipe. We’ll give it a shot. Thanks!
Awesome! I’ll get started on these today! Hopefully they’ll still be some left for our New Year’s party, lol.
Thanks, Katie! ?
I made something similar to this to give to my grandparents for my Christmas! I gave them each a jar full, and they absolutely loved them. I love that you can do these in the crockpot!
I just so happened to have all the ingredients and made this they were so delicious I could eat the whole batch myself!
These are great and super easy. Just finished making a batch for New Years. Thanks Katie.