Almond

French Almond Nougat

~ mrsgooses ~ Leave a comment

This is the best almond nougat recipe and it makes lots. I love giving it as a gift! Feel free to change the almonds to your favorite nut and add in some dried fruit too.

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Ingredients:

For the first part (mazetta):

2 Egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup Light corn syrup
1/2 cup Sugar

For the second part (nougat):

1 1/2 cups Light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups Sugar
4 tbsp Unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Salt
3 1/2 cups Whole raw almonds, skin on

– For the first part: Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff and set aside.
– In a small saucepan, combine corn syrup, 1/4 cup water, and sugar. – Clip on a candy thermometer and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.
– Reduce to a medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until temperature reaches 242 degrees (soft-ball stage).
– Remove sugar syrup from heat. Beating constantly on medium speed, slowly pour hot syrup into egg whites. Continue beating for 3 to 4 minutes until syrup is incorporated.
– Spray an 8″ square baking pan with vegetable-oil spray, line with parchment, oil parchment, and set aside.
– For the second part: In a medium saucepan, combine corn syrup and sugar, clip on candy thermometer, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
– Reduce to a medium-high heat and cook to 280 degrees (soft-crack stage) without stirring. If heat is too high it can boil over, so watch carefully.
– Remove from heat and, without scraping pan, pour syrup over first part.
– Working quickly, stir with a wooden spoon until almost smooth.
– Stir in butter, vanilla, and salt until incorporated.
– Stir in nuts.
– Scrape into prepared pan, and smooth the top.
– Let stand at room temperature, uncovered, until firm, 4 to 6 hours.
– Unmold nougat from pan and cut nougat into bitesize pieces or other desired shapes. Wrap each piece in baking parchment or waxed paper.

Recipe from here: http://www.marthastewart.com/350253/french-almond-nougat

Lemon Ricotta Cake with Lemon Syrup, Buttercream, and Sugared Zest

~ mrsgooses ~ 2 Comments

This is a very lemony cake made with polenta, grounds almonds, and ricotta. A lemon syrup is then poured over the warm cake to give a sweet lemony tang and moistness. More lemon flavor is added with the buttercream and even more lemon sweetness is added with the sugared lemon zest on the top.

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Cake and syrup recipe originally from http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-gluten-free-lemon-ricotta-cake-recipe.html

Cake:

2 sticks Butter
1 cup Sugar
3 Eggs, beaten
1 cup Ricotta Cheese
1½ cups Ground Almonds
½ cup Polenta
1 tsp Baking Powder

– Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 9″ springform pan.
– In a mixer, cream butter and sugar.
– Mix in eggs.
– Mix in ricotta, almonds, polenta, and baking powder until well combined.
– Scrape into lined pan and bake for 1-1½ hrs or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cake will be a golden brown on top.
– While cake is baking make Lemon Syrup and Sugared Lemon Zest.
– Once cake is cooked, remove from oven and leave in tin. Pour or brush cake with Lemon Syrup while cake is still warm. Leave to cool completely.
– Remove cake from tin and spread or pipe Lemon Buttercream over the top. Garnish with Sugared Lemon Zest.

Lemon Syrup:

½ cup + 1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Lemon, juice and zest
2 Lemons, juice
100ml water

– Place sugar, lemon juice (3 lemons total), and water into a saucepan.
– Heat over medium-high heat until it begins to boil. Boil for about 5min. or until slightly syrupy.
– Remove from heat and add zest. Set aside until cake is ready.
– Brush over warm cake.

Lemon Buttercream:

4 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 Lemon, juice
1½ cups Confectioner’s Sugar

– Beat butter and sugar, adding enough lemon juice to reach desired consistency.
– Spread or pipe onto cooled cake.

Sugared Lemon Zest:

3-4 lemons
2-3 Tbsp sugar

– Use a zester to remove zest from lemons.
– Toss in sugar to coat.
– Garnish finished cake.

How to Make a Gluten-Free Orange Almond Cake

Video ~ ~ mrsgooses ~ Leave a comment

This is a lovely recipe by Allyson Gofton that can be found on her website: http://www.allysongofton.co.nz/recipe/Orange-almond-cake/?r=2775&fs=1

I don’t have a large food processor, so I pureed my oranges in a mini chopper and then continued to mix everything in my mixer.

Using the whole orange gives the cake heaps of moisture and a not-too-sweet taste.

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Ingredients:

2 large oranges, unpeeled (navel oranges work well)
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups ground almonds
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar to dust

1. Place the unpeeled oranges into a saucepan. Cover with water and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and leave until thoroughly cold.
2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease and line a 9″/23cm cake tin with baking paper.
3. Cut the cooked oranges into quarters, remove the seeds and place in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until finely chopped. Add the eggs, sugar and lemon juice and process for 1 minute.
4. Add the baking powder and ground almonds and pulse only to mix. Do not over-process.
5. Pour into the prepared cake tin.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until golden in colour and a cake skewer (or toothpick) inserted comes out clean.
7. Stand in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.
8. Sift over a thick layer of confectioner’s sugar.