Just in time for the New Year's party scene: Nuts!

Hardly a party takes place these day without a bowl pecans, almonds, pistachios and the like coated with spicy, sweet or savory seasonings. To most of us, they are a nice little snack.

Boston-based cookbook author (and nut entrepreneur) Sally Sampson recognized them as something more - an opportunity.

Enter Party Nuts! (Harvard Common Press, 2002, $9.95), Sampson's collection of 50 recipes of, well, party nuts.

That's a pretty slender idea on which to hang a cookbook, but Sampson certainly goes far and wide in her quest for spicy finger food. Her recipes run the gamut from the traditional cinnamon-sugar to saffron pistachios, soy-glazed walnuts and roasted Tabasco pecans.

The instructions are clear, the photos enjoyable (although if you've seen one nut encrusted in spices ... ), but the whole enterprise does make one wonder: Do I really need a whole cookbook on cocktail nuts?

One lesson you'll learn from Party Nuts! is that all these recipes are pretty much the same in one respect: They require roasted nuts to be tossed in some kind of liquid, usually an oil or butter, and then in dry seasonings.

Roasting intensifies the nuts' flavor, and some shortening makes the spices stick. Simple, yes? And downright easy (just don't tell the guests).

Among the book's offerings is this instant classic - a sweet, salty and slightly spicy recipe for pecans that is wonderfully subtle (read: not cloyingly sweet) and greatly helped by just a splash of rum. It requires maybe 20 minutes of preparation and an hour to dry.

Rum-Glazed Spiced Pecans

Makes 2 cups

2 cups pecans

SPICE MIX:

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

RUM GLAZE:

2 tablespoons dark rum

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Lightly toast pecans on a baking sheet for 10 to 12 minutes in a 350-degree oven.

Combine spice mix ingredients in a small bowl.

Place glaze ingredients in a medium-size saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add toasted nuts to glaze and cook for about 1 minute until pecans are covered and pan is nearly dry. Spoon the spice mix over the nuts 1 tablespoon at a time until all are well-coated.

Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, keeping nuts separated. Let dry for 1 hour or up to overnight.