Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Step 2

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cayenne, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and salt until well blended.

Step 3

In a large bowl whisk the egg whites and water together until very frothy and foamy.

Step 4

Add the nuts and toss with a large rubber spatula to coat completely with egg wash. The egg should coat the nuts, without having extra egg white at the bottom of the bowl.  If there's additional egg white mixture pooling in the bowl after coating the nuts, add another 1/2 to 1 cup of nuts and toss again until well coated.

Step 5

Add spice blend and toss to coat nuts completely with the spatula.  All the spice mixture should adhere to the nuts without having leftover spice in the bottom of the bowl.  Continue to toss until all of the spice mix coats the nuts.

Step 6

Spread nuts in a single layer on the sheet pan.  Bake for 10 minutes then stir or flip the nuts and re-spread them into a single layer again. Bake an additional 10 minutes until nuts are toasted, fragrant and crisp. Cool on the sheet pan. Nuts will get crisper as they cool.

Step 7

Store in a airtight container. Serve with cocktails or wrap in cellophane bags to gift.

Step 8

To gift the nuts, fill festive cellophane bags or decorative jars or tins with the nuts. Seal them well to stay fresh.

Step 9

I spend a few hours on a Saturday to make about 30 cups of nuts for my holiday gifts.  In order to do this, I mix the nuts in a large tupperware container and portion out the nuts in 6 cup increments.

Step 10

Make each batch of nuts individually.  Do not mix a large batch of sugar spice mixture or egg white water mixture... You're asking for trouble.