Spanish Christmas roasted almond nougat |Turron de almendra
Let’s talk about Christmas. In England you have lots of traditions that include clothes, Christmas songs, food, mulled drinks and sweets. Who doesn’t eat mince pies over the Christmas season? In Spain we have the same traditions, but different ingredients: Spanish Christmas songs, food and, of course, sweets. In all homes across Spain,we have turron to finish a copious dinner. You could say that turron is the Spanish mince pie.
INGREDIENTS
350g good quality raw almonds, ideally Spanish, such as Marcona, skinless
1 egg white
200g honey
100g caster (superfine) sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F/gas mark 6.
Spread the raw almonds over an oven tray and roast them for 6 minutes, until lightly golden. Set aside to cool, then blitz in a food processor until ground almonds consistency. Be careful not to pulverize the almonds as they will release juices and oils that are needed for a good consistency later on.
Whisk the egg white in a clean, grease-free bowl until it is an opaque white foam. This will take 1 minutes.
Put the honey, sugar and cinnamon into a heavy bottomed pan over a low-medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until the sugar has melted with the honey. Remove from the heat and add the egg foam, little by little, whisking and mixing continuously. Place the pan back over a low heat and add the almond poder almonds, a little at a time, still stirring and mixing with a wooden spoon or a spatula as the mixture thickens for no longer than 5 minutes.
If your mixture splits for some reason, you can blend this mix in the food processor again for 30 seconds and will come back together
Pour the mixture into a cake mould or a the cake tin you would normally use for your cakes (25cm x 12cm) and use a spatula or your fingers (if it is not too hot) to push and spread the mixture level and into the corners. Cool down at room temperature for at least 3 hours, then unpeel the mould and serve.