Ina Garten's Salted Caramel Nuts Are the Best Holiday Party Favor

As the height of the holiday season approaches, it’s time to figure out what gifts you’re going to bring along to all those white elephant parties and friendly gift exchanges to come. There are plenty of old standards you can rely on—a nice bottle of wine for the friend who’s hosting a fun Christmas dinner or a Le Creuset mug for your pal who has everything.

Or, if you want to opt for something with that homey touch, you could go for a homemade food gift. Crafting the perfect cookie tin or batch of baked goods can be a fun, budget-friendly option, and even Ina Garten says she enjoys going the homemade route from time to time.

In fact, Ina took to Instagram this week to share one of her favorite giftable recipes for Salted Caramel Nuts, and it’s a pretty simple recipe.

“When you’re going to holiday parties, Salted Caramel Nuts are a great hostess gift,” Ina wrote on Instagram. “You can make a big batch, allow them to cool completely, and pack them in striped bags!”

Folks looking for an affordable gift option will love how short this ingredients list is—all you’ll need is a mixture of nuts, sugar, vanilla, kosher salt and fleur de sel. Ina suggests doing an equal amount of salted cashews, pecan halves, unsalted almonds and walnut halves, but you could always tweak the mixture based on your taste or the tastes of your pals.

The recipe might be a little intimidating for folks who have never made caramel before, but the process is simple. First, roast the nuts in the oven at 350°F for about 7 minutes until they’re fragrant, then let them cool. Then you’ll combine water and sugar in a sauté pan and cook until the sugar melts, swirling (not stirring) the pan with the mixture for several minutes while the sugar caramelizes and becomes richer in color. When the color is right, remove from heat and add the vanilla, swirling again to combine. Then add the nuts and salt and use two spoons to toss everything together.

When all the nuts are coated, pour them and the extra caramel out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and let them cool. As they’re cooling, get out your fleur de sel—that’s a French type of flaky sea salt, but any flakey salt will do—and give the batch a nice sprinkle. With the nuts cool and ready to go, package them in a tin or in little cellophane bags, as Ina does, and set them aside for gift-giving.

Whether you bring these candied nuts along to a holiday bash as a tasty surprise or offer them to pals as a simple gift, they’re sure to be a crowd pleaser. The good news is that each batch makes about 8 cups of nuts—hopefully that will be enough to go around this holiday season.