Spanish Honey Almond Nougat Recipes

TORRONE (ITALIAN NUT AND NOUGAT CONFECTION)

Steps:

• Line an 8x11-inch baking dish with plastic wrap, allowing ends to hang over the sides. Place 1 sheet of 8x10 wafer paper in the bottom of the pan. Keep the roasted almonds and pistachios in a warm place until ready to add at the end. This makes it easier to mix them in.
• Pour honey into a heavy-bottomed pot. Add sugar. Mix and stir over low heat with a spatula, stirring constantly until mixture turns from grainy to silky and smooth, about 30 minutes. Remove pot from heat.
• Place the egg whites in a mixing bowl; add a pinch of salt. Whisk until whites form soft peaks, 3 to 4 minutes. Place pot back on low heat. Gradually whisk about a quarter of the whipped egg whites into the honey/sugar mixture; whisk in the remaining egg whites in 3 more batches.
• Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula until mixture turns a brighter white and a ribbon of the mixture does not immediately incorporate back into the rest of the mixture and stays intact on the surface for a while. This will take about 40 minutes. You can add a few drops of the mixture into a small bowl of ice cold water to test the consistency; ideally it should feel like soft clay.
• Whisk in vanilla and lemon zest. Add warm almonds and pistachios and stir to incorporate evenly.
• Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Even out as best you can with a clean oiled spatula. Top with 2nd sheet of wafer paper, shiny side up. Cover with plastic wrap and press down evenly, tamping mixture down gently but firmly. Remove top layer of plastic.
• Allow torrone to sit at room temperature until cool, firm, and ready to cut, 1 or 2 hours. Lift torrone from baking dish with the edges of the bottom layer of plastic wrap. Invert and remove plastic from the bottom. If the plastic wrap is difficult to remove from the edges of the torrone, you can trim off the edges.
• Cut torrone into 1-inch squares using a sharp serrated knife.

TURRON JIJONA (SPANISH-STYLE NOUGAT CANDY)

Steps:

• Pour the honey into a saucepan and warm over medium-low heat to 140 degrees F (60 degrees C). Stir the almonds into the warm honey and remove from heat. Mix the egg yolks, cinnamon, and lemon zest into the almonds. Fold the egg whites into the mixture.
• Line a dish with parchment paper. Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper and smooth to a 1/2-inch layer. Place a sheet of parchment paper atop the mixture and then place a cutting board over the paper; place a few items on top of the cutting board to give it some weight.
• Allow the turron to dry for 3 days. Cut into 1-inch squares to serve.

ALMOND AND HONEY NOUGAT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius
• Place nuts in a roasting tray, dry roast for 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 100 degrees C; keep nuts warm.
• Line a 20cm x 30cm x 3cm baking tray with baking paper. Place 2 sheets of rice paper in tray, covering the bottom of the tray.
• Place water, sugar and glucose in a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Cook to 150 degrees C (using candy thermometer).
• Place honey in second saucepan, bring to the boil over medium heat and cook to 135 degrees Celsius.
• A few minutes before honey reaches 135 degrees C, beat egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
• While continuing to mix at low speed, drizzle in hot honey; add sugar syrup in the same manner. Continue to beat at low speed for about 5 minutes.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in warm nuts.
• Pour nougat into prepared tray; flatten with a wet metal spoon.
• Cover with remaining sheets of rice paper. Refrigerate when cold.
• To cut when set, turn out onto chopping board and slice with a large knife.

SPANISH HONEY-ALMOND NOUGAT

Steps:

• Toast,peel and grind almonds and nuts till powder.
• Beat egg whites continuously until soft peaks come out (you know, it looks like snow ).
• Mix carefully egg whites with powdered nuts.
• In a suitable pan, heat honey and sugar stirring well with a wooden spatula until boiling and then add the nuts, egg mixture, dash of cinnamon and keep on stirring for 10 minutes until it's thick and all water has evaporated. Don't let it burn!.
• When done, place the resulting paste in rectangular moulds lined with waxed paper. Any rectangular cake pan is suitable only fill it up to 2cm. thick, so you may need some pans.
• Let the nougat bars cool at room temperature and then take them out of the moulds and store them wrapped in wax paper in any air tight container.
• These bars (which are called TURRON in Spanish) are soft, sweet and delicious. Cut them widthwise to serve them. Nothing to do with British nougats!.

SPANISH TURRON RECIPE

Steps:

• Toast the almonds in the oven or in a pan at the stove, moving them whenever you can so that they brown evenly, and remove them before they turn dark.
• Put the sugar with the honey in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat over low heat and mix the sugar with the honey.
• Meanwhile, beat the egg white with a stand or hand mixer, until you get soft peaks.
• When the sugar and honey mixture begins to bubble, cook for two more minutes and remove from heat. Incorporate the whipped egg white slowly and move lightly so that it doesn't set. Return the pot to the heat of the stove and continue cooking while constantly stirring. Never take it to high heat, always medium to low.
• Don't stop stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture has the texture of caramel, which is known as the hard ballpoint, or until the caramel breaks. Then add the almonds and mix well.
• Let it cool for a few minutes and pour the nougat mix into a square or rectangular cake pan lined with parchment paper. Smooth the surface and let it cool completely before eating it.