Almost everyone likes almond paste, but for some reason many people prefer to buy it ready-made. At the same time, it is easily and simply prepared at home. This delicacy can be used both in pure form and used as a filling for many desserts. How to make it yourself?
The easiest option
You can cook it using just four simple ingredients - almond flour, icing sugar, egg white and almond extract. This version of homemade almond paste is simple because it does not use whole nuts. Almond flour is easily mixed with powdered sugar and other ingredients. Having spent a little time, you get a delicate delicacy, on the basis of which you can cook a lot of delicious desserts. So you will need:
- one and a half glasses of fine almond flour;
- one and a half glasses of powdered sugar;
- 1 egg protein, previously extracted from the refrigerator and brought to room temperature;
- 1 teaspoon almond extract.
How to do it?
Mix almond flour and icing sugar in a food processor, then beat a few times at high speeds to break the lumps. Add egg white and almond extract and continue to beat for about 1-2 minutes, until the mixture becomes smooth and turns into a single mass.
Sprinkle the sprinkle surface lightly with sugar powder. Put the almond paste on it and roll it into a ball. Roll into a “sausage” with a diameter of about five centimeters. Wrap with plastic wrap and allow it to cool for at least 1 hour. You can store such a homemade treat in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Whole Nut Option
Almond paste bought in stores is usually either too sweet or too processed with various fillers and preservatives. It takes a little effort to cook it at home, but it's worth it. Home-made food tastes much better than the store. In addition, almond paste is an important ingredient for many types of baking. And you can make it yourself if whole nuts are available.
Almond paste recipe is notable for its simplicity. First of all, take 1 kg of raw almonds and pour it with boiling water. Leave to swell for at least five minutes. This should soften and loosen the skin, which will then easily slide off when rubbing the nuts with your fingers.
As soon as you peel the whole almonds, you need to dry it. Lay the nuts on a flat baking sheet and place in the oven, heated to 110 degrees. Dry them in this way for at least ten minutes. After this, cool and proceed to further cooking.
Very dry almonds are well chopped in a food processor. Perform this process until a powdery mass is obtained. Set aside and simultaneously make a syrup that will sweeten the nuts and bind them into a paste. For each glass of almond flour, add a quarter glass of sugar and a tablespoon of light corn syrup. Simply heat the sugar mixture until it dissolves without stirring. Then add a drop or two of almond extract to the syrup as desired.
Return the thin almond flour to the bowl of the food processor and chop again, slowly pouring the syrup. Now the paste is ready to eat. It will remain solid but pliable at room temperature. This paste is ideal for making marzipan.
Honey and Whole Nuts Option
As noted above, almond paste at home is very simple. If you make it according to the recipe below, you will get almost homemade marzipan. To do this, you will need:
- 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons of sugar (250 grams) of sugar;
- 1/4 cup (75 grams) of honey;
- 100 ml of water;
- 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons (500 grams) of blanched whole almonds;
- 50 grams of maple or plain syrup, if desired;
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) unsalted butter.
Cooking almond paste with honey
Put sugar, honey and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Put the almonds in the bowl of the food processor and chop until coarse flour.
Remove the pan from the stove and pour the cooked syrup onto chopped almonds. Mix until smooth. This may take 10 minutes or more, depending on the capacity of your food processor. If the mixture is too thick and heterogeneous, and the food processor cannot make the mass denser and more viscous, you can add a little maple syrup. Pour it in slowly and stop when mixing becomes more malleable. The quality of almond paste is determined by how smooth the consistency is.
Wrap the cooked pasta in a plastic bag and let it cool. When you are ready to use it, mix it with oil. It will make almond paste more sticky and not very sticky.
Another option with honey
This recipe allows you to cook almond paste in an amount of 0.5 kg. Unlike other home-made cooking options that contain egg whites as an ingredient, the binder here is a syrup made from sugar, honey and water. In total, you will need:
- 125 grams of granulated natural cane sugar;
- 35 grams of light whipped honey;
- 50 grams of water;
- 250 grams of finely ground almond flour;
- one and a half teaspoons of pure almond extract.
Cooking pasta with honey and cane sugar
Put sugar, honey and water in a small pot. Turn the burner on the stove to the average temperature mark (100-110 degrees) and cook the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and the syrupy mixture boils.
Meanwhile, add almond flour to the bowl of the food processor. Pour in hot syrup and add almond extract. Beat until a smooth paste forms for 2 to 3 minutes. Most likely, you will have to stop halfway to scrape off the adhering mass from the side and lower parts of the bowl.
Put cooked almond paste on a piece of plastic film or wax paper. Wrap it tightly and put in a cool place or in the refrigerator. The paste will be ready to use as soon as it has completely cooled. Subsequently, almond paste should be stored in the refrigerator so that it remains fresh.