Candied Basil Leaves

This week on Homemade Toast, it’s all about lemon & basil – the perfect summer duo. Since I posted on how to make candied lemon curls, it seems only right that we give our lemon’s counterpart the same respect: a little sugar.

These candied basil leaves are so easy to make, and SO addicting – they make the perfect garnish in lets say, lemon-basil fruit pizza (coming tomorrow!).

Candied Basil Leaves

Ingredients:

Simple syrup (leftover from your candied lemon curls, or 1/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup water)
20-25 basil leaves
1/2 cup sugar (granulated, or super fine)

Directions:

1. Make your simple syrup by bringing 1/4 cup of water + 1/4 cup of sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. After it has come to a boil, set aside to cool completely to room temperature. (Or, use your leftover syrup from your candied lemon curls.)

2. Carefully dip each basil leaf in the cooled syrup and lay out on a cooling rack so that excess syrup can drip off.

3. Place each basil leaf in a shallow bowl of sugar. (I used granulated and pulsed it in my blender for a few minutes to make it “fine” – totally optional)

4. Carefully coat each leaf with the sugar, gently rubbing it in.

5. Lay out on parchment or wax paper to dry, about 6-8 hours. The syrup + sugar combo will harden and the leaf will become “crunchy” when it’s ready.

Use as a garnish right away – as a whole leaf, or chopped! These don’t keep super well, you will probably want to use them the same day – depending on how fresh your leaves are they may keep up to 24 hours uncovered in the fridge.