This is a post from 2015. I hope that you enjoy!

What more could you ask for on a snowy day besides a good book and a cup of coffee?  These wonderful Candied Expresso Nuts of course!

Ingredients

olive oil or non-stick spray
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons finely ground espresso coffee beans
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg white
4 cups walnut halves (about 12 ounces) or 4 cups almonds

(This works well with any type of nut.)

Materials

Baking Sheet
Whisk
Large Bowl and Small Bowl
Measuring Cup and Measuring Spoon

Preparation and Cooking

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk sugar and next 4 ingredients in small bowl. Whisk egg white in large bowl until frothy. Add nuts; toss to coat. Sprinkle nuts with espresso mixture and toss to coat. Spread coated walnuts on prepared sheet in single layer.

Bake 5 minutes. Slide spatula under nuts to loosen from baking sheet and stir, rearranging in single layer. Bake until nuts are dry to touch, about 5 minutes longer. Loosen nuts from sheet again; cool on sheet. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Starter Zone, the first book of my new YA/LitRPG series, The Revelation Chronicles, is now available in print, e-book, and on Audible.

When hydrologists inscribe the consciousness of a human mind onto a single drop of water, a Revelation sweeps the land. The wealthy race to upload their minds into self-contained virtual realities nicknamed Aquariums. In these containers people achieve every hope, dream, and desire. But governments wage war for control of the technology. Terrorist attacks cause massive destruction. The Aquariums fail. Inscribed human minds leech into the water cycle, wreaking havoc.

Street gangs rule the cities in the three years since the fall of civilization. Sixteen-year-old Cami and her younger sister Alby struggle to survive. Every drop of untreated water puts their lives in peril. Caught and imprisoned by soldiers who plan to sell them into slavery, Cami will do anything to escape and rescue her sister. Even if it means leaving the real word for a life in the realms, a new game-like reality created by the hydrologists for the chosen few.

But life in the realms isn’t as simple as it seems. Magic, combat, gear scores, quests, and dungeons are all puzzles to be solved as the sisters navigate their new surroundings. And they encounter more dangerous enemies than any they faced in the real world.

Time to play the game.