SPICY SMOKED TEA-PECAN CRISPS

SPICY SMOKED TEA-PECAN CRISPS image

Categories Nut

Yield 64 pieces

Number Of Ingredients 12

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Ingredients

3 cups (about 12 ounces) chopped pecans
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons Lapsang Souchong dry tea leaves (from about 8 tea bags; see headnote)
Scant 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt, plus 1/4 teaspoon more for garnish
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
Generous 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cups flour, plus more as needed
1 1/2 tablespoons safflower oil or other neutral vegetable oil
2 large eggs, one of them separated into yolk and white
2 tablespoons plus a few more teaspoons water, or as needed
3 tablespoons coarse, translucent sugar crystals or turbinado sugar, for garnish

Steps:

-Preheat 300 degrees. -Toast pecans for 9 - 12 min, stirring. Cool. -Combine the sugar, tea leaves, sea salt, & spices in a food processor. Process 3 - 4 min, or until the tea has reduced to a fine powder. Reserve 1/3 of tea mixture for garnish. -Add flour, 1/2 the chopped pecans & oil to processor. Process until pecans are finely chopped & ingredients are beginning to clump together; scrape down bowl. -Whisk together 1 whole egg, 1 yolk & 2 tbsp water; add to the mixture in the food processor, pulsing until mixture just comes together to form a dough. If dry, add a bit more water, pulsing, until dough holds together. -Shape it into a square, then center it between two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough (still between the parchment) into a 14" square; peel off the top sheet of parchment. -Cut & patch the dough to make an even square. -Use a fork to whisk together the remaining egg white with 1 tsp water in a small bowl. Brush the dough surface evenly with half the egg white mixture. -Sprinkle half the reserved tea garnishing mixture evenly over the dough, then sprinkle w/ half the remaining pecans & coarse sugar, and 1/8 tsp coarse salt. -Reposition the parchment on top, then roll back & forth with the pin to firmly embed the garnish. Sandwich the parchment & dough layers between two baking sheets & carefully flip over the dough. Peel off the second parchment sheet; repeat brushing on the egg white, then the remaining tea mixture, pecans, coarse sugar & salt on the 2nd side. Trim away & discard the uneven dough edges. -Cut the dough equally into 8 x 8, forming 64 crisps. Transfer the squares to a large parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing slightly apart; retrace the cuts if needed. -Bake for 20 min, invert the crisps; bake on 2nd sides for 20 min. Cool. -Once all the crisps have been baked, gather them on a single baking sheet & place in the oven (turned off; the crisps can over overlap). Let them cool/crisp up in the oven for 45 minutes.