Candied Cardamom and Orange Mixed Nuts

I've got a great new recipe for your nut dish this holiday season. Don't buy Planters or any other kind of store bought nuts this time. Get yourself some oversized bags of nuts at Costco or Sam's Club or whichever store of that type is popular in your area, and make your own! Perfect for gift giving, if you can manage to put any aside before devouring them all yourself. And great news.... I've found yet another use for that expensive jar of cardamom that I bought a while back!  These are sweet, crunchy and downright addictive.

CANDIED CARDAMOM 
AND ORANGE MIXED NUTS

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup plus 3 Tbs. sugar, divided
1 cup unsalted pecans
1 cup unsalted walnuts
1 cup unsalted almonds
2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. or more orange peel       

Melt the butter in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Meanwhile, mix the remaining 3 Tbs. of sugar with the cardamom and orange peel and set aside. As you can see, I took the easy way out and used a jar of Spice Islands orange peel. But if you like grating, by all means grate away! When the sugar is dissolved, still over the medium to medium high heat add the 3 cups of nuts, cooking and stirring for about 5 minutes until toasted and well coated with the butter/sugar mixture. Don't allow the nuts to burn. Pour the nuts into a large bowl and add the reserved sugar and spice mixture. Stir well to coat evenly.  Dump this mixture onto a foil lined cookie sheet and break apart with the back of your spoon or spatula to, well, to break them apart.... duh me.  When they are cooled, they will separate, yeah, that's the word I was looking for... they will separate easily and be ready to fill a nut dish or add to a container for gift giving. Yum.... wait till you taste these!