A crunchy New Year confection of walnuts toasted and bound in caramelized honey, then cut into glossy amber diamonds. Sweet, sticky, and deeply nutty.
Gozinaki is the sweet of the Georgian New Year and Christmas table, where no holiday feast is complete without its honey-glazed diamonds. An ancient preparation of just honey and walnuts, it carries old symbolism of abundance and the sweetness of the year to come.
It snaps and then turns chewy, the honey crackling into toasted-walnut richness with a faint bitter edge from the caramel. Intensely sweet and aromatic, it sticks pleasantly to the teeth. One amber diamond tastes like a Georgian holiday.
Simmering concentrates the honey and caramelizes its sugars into a brittle-then-chewy candy matrix, while toasting develops the walnuts' oils and Maillard aromas, which the hot honey seals in.
Variations
Hazelnuts or mixed nuts; a splash of lemon to control crystallization; some add a little sugar to the honey.
On the Palate
Where Gozinaki sits in the Georgian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 18 min
Coarsely chop walnuts into rough pieces.
- 26 min
Toast the walnuts in a dry pan until fragrant and lightly colored.
Watch outToast the walnuts only until fragrant and lightly colored — burnt nuts turn the whole candy bitter.
- 38 min
Warm honey in a heavy pan and let it simmer until slightly thickened.
- 42 min
Stir the toasted walnuts into the hot honey.
- 58 min
Cook together, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns deep golden and sticky.
Watch outCook the honey and nuts, stirring nonstop, until deep amber and sticky-thick — that color tells you it'll set into a snap.
- 63 min
Tip onto a wet board or marble and press flat with a wet spatula.
- 73 min
While still warm, cut into diamond or rectangle shapes.
Watch outCut while still warm — once it cools and hardens, it shatters instead of slicing clean.
- 830 min
Cool completely until set, then separate the pieces.
