ALMOND - FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH

[JoyfulCook]

The almond is one of the most versatile nuts in the world. We eat many varieties in many diverse forms. Almonds are delicious alone as a nutritious snack, and they are a prime ingredient in home kitchens and in food manufacturing. Almonds enhance virtually every food they grace with their distinctive taste and satisfying crunch.

The Romans showered newlyweds with almonds as a fertility charm. Today, guests at many weddings are given a bag of sugared almonds, representing children, happiness, romance, good health and fortune.

ALMOND NIBBLES
Such a lovely choice of nibbles for you to choose, they are really delightful and quite easy to make ahead of time as well!



Sugared Spiced Nuts
Sugared Cinnamon Almonds
Cinnamon Sugared Almonds

Candied Sugared Almonds (German Gebrannte Mandeln)
Vanilla Sugared Almonds
Aunt Isea's Sugared Almonds

ALMOND PASTE AND MARZIPAN

There is nothing nicer than making your own almond paste for that special cake, its not hard to make and totally delicious




Almond Paste
Almond Paste or Marzipan
Scandinavian Style Almond Paste

MARZIPAN CANDY AND SWEETS

I remember painted marzipan tiny fruits in a very fancy box as a child and was always amazed at how pretty they are! here are a few recipes for you to try your hand at. Is so worth the effort and they can be kept for quite a few days in a plastic container

Marzipan Snowball Truffles (Vegan)
Marzipan Stuffed Dates
Manzapades (Lemon Marzipan)
Marzipan Truffles
Chocolate Marzipan Slices (Mandulas Szalami)



Make Your Own Marzipan Decorations - Its Easy!

Marzipan modeling is like playing with play dough except that you can eat it... and it's delicious! An almond-tasting candy in fun shapes and colors.

200g ground almonds
200g icing sugar (confectioners)
3 drops vanilla essence
2 egg whites
Food coloring (optional)

This method is best used for preparing modeling marzipan.

Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl on top of the ground almonds



Add remaining ingredients. Mix together to make a stiff paste.
You can use a little water mixed with brandy instead of the egg whites if you do not want to eat raw eggs.
Knead until smooth.

Almond butter is delicious and I am sure that this recipe will be just ideal


Yummy Almond Butter With 3 Variations

ALMOND CHICKEN

Easy to make and easier to enjoy, just try a few of these recipes and you will be enjoying something quite different with little extra effort.




Oven Fried Almond Chicken
Chicken in Yogurt and Almond Curry
Almond Chicken


Chicken Tagine With Apricots and Almonds
Orange Chicken with Almonds
Honey-Glazed Chicken Breasts With Rosemary and Toasted Almonds

ALMOND COOKIES

Almond cooking seem to have been around forever and were first made thousands of years ago as offerings to the Gods and with a flavour like this you can see why. Once essence was available it made it easier to make even more recipes




Almond Roca Cookies
Almond Spritz Press Cookies

Almond Butter Cookies
Almond Butter Cookies
Almond Bread (Cookie/Biscotti)

ALMOND CAKES

The taste of almond in cakes is perfectly delightful and adds a dellicious flavour. There are some lovely recipes here for cakes and even more on Food.com



Southwestern Chipotle Chili With Black Beans and Corn
Lemon Ricotta-Almond Cake ( Gluten-Free )
Cream Cheese Almond Coffee Cake

Almond Butter Cake
Italian Almond Cake - Giada De Laurentiis
Chocolate, Pistachio, Almond Cake (Rich and Easy)

Please share you recipes, ideas and specially your tips here as we can never learn enough.

[**Tinkerbell**]

Great flavor, Joy! We love almonds and as long as I'm not feeding any of the two families we know that can't have nuts, I'll throw almond extract into just about anything! My DH has always been a marzipan addict, but for some reason I've never made it for him.
I say that like I really don't know why. Actually, I do. I can't make anything but a ball or a cube out of playdough, so I'm guessing that anything I try to mold out of marzipan isn't going to look like delicate little foods and facial features.
Maybe I'll just have to tackle my fear this year and give it a try. What a surprise that would be for him!

Here are some of our favorites, and if the length of this list isn't an indication of how much we love almond.... I don't know what is!




Raw Vegan Lemon Cranberry Cheesecake
Lorilyn's Baked Strawberry French Toast
Chocolate Almond Tiramisu Crepes




Holiday Almond Roca
Cherry Almond Bars
Cherry-Almond Roll



Quick Cherry Cobbler
Valentine's Day Krispie Treat Hearts
Cherry Cloud Tiramisu



Cocoa Krispie Football Treats
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Filled Strawberry Cheesecakes

[JoyfulCook]

Tinks, I have saved nearly half of those there is such a a choice and almonds features a lot in so many great dishes. can your family eat recipes with imitation essence?

thanks so much for posting those - yum!!

[Sage]

Almonds are one of the healthy food; I always have a container of flavored almonds sitting on my coffee table.Almost everyone who comes over has a sample. Great choices Tinks.

[stormylee]

Oh JoyfulCook, I'm not sure if I should thank you for posting the recipes for almond paste or not! It's one of the things I've been happy to buy from the store, thinking it must be difficult to make, but now that I look at the recipes... making it from scratch doesn't seem that daunting at all!

I've been on an inevitable almond kick lately - almonds are such an integral part of the Nordic Christmas season as they go into the omnipresent glögg as well as the all-important rice pudding. I just made Almond Cinnamon Rolls, and used the leftover almond paste to make this beautiful Almond Torte.



The photo in no way makes justice to the wonderfully moist and rich (hence the thin slice!) torte! Next up on my almondy baking list: Mazarin Tart.

[**Tinkerbell**]

JoyfulCook wrote:
Tinks, I have saved nearly half of those there is such a a choice and almonds features a lot in so many great dishes. can your family eat recipes with imitation essence?

thanks so much for posting those - yum!!

My family can eat any of it, but I have two friends with kids who cannot have any contact with tree nuts at all. I don't even cook with nuts when they're coming over, even if it would be easy to tell them not to eat the item.

[BecR]

LOVE almond!!!

Here are a few of my favorites to add to the list!!!

Braided Chicken Almandine

Marzipankugeln - German Marzipan Balls

Danish Christmas Rice Pudding With Almonds and Warm Cherry Sauce

[**Tinkerbell**]

Bec, your rice pudding photo is SO beautiful!

[**Tinkerbell**]

stormy, I put the Almond Cinnamon Rolls straight into my cookbook. Your almond torte looks delish too! I don't mind having to make a recipe to use as an ingredient in the recipe I want to make, but I love when there is another recipe on hand to use up the leftover homemade ingredient!

[Sage]

I thought I could add my Almond Cake from Albufeira, Portugal
Really good. Hope i am allowed to do that.
Rita

[**Tinkerbell**]

Another yummy in my tummy just went into my cookbook! Thanks for sharing that one, Rita.
It looks so easy and I love the idea of almond syrup!

I'm almost finished with a bottle of ginger syrup that Papa Sid sent me during the Stocking Swap a couple years ago, and I am SO sad! I'm gonna have to find another bottle of that stuff.

[Sage]

I love all kinds of ginger, but never heard of ginger syrup; what is it.

[**Tinkerbell**]

Sage wrote:
I love all kinds of ginger, but never heard of ginger syrup; what is it.

It's more like a pancake syrup, rather than a simple syrup I would make for cocktails.
The brand I was given is from the Ginger People, and I found several places to buy it, but the link below is the best price.

I thought I would use it a couple times as a novelty, and then maybe use it only in tea from then on. As it turns out, I have used it in everything from marinades to candies. Pretty much anything that I want fresh ginger for, I've tried the ginger syrup instead. And any recipe that calls for honey or maple syrup I've used it instead. It's so yummy!

Ginger Syrup from the Ginger People

[JoyfulCook]

StormyleeI’m glad that I did, marzipan really is easy to make and so much nicer than store bought.
I love all the traditions in Europe ad the traditional recipes as well, that torte -I have saved that recipe

Rita, the more that add their recipes the better, thats how the word gets around and it looks great too

Tinks, its such a worry with allergies these days. I have a friend who has a nut and mustard allergy - sure keeps me on my toes, yes, if he is coming over, I dont put anything out for anyone that has these ingredients in them. saves all the worry

Thanks for that Ginger Syrup recipe Tinks - we love ginger

[Amberngriffinco]

love almond!

i actually added the extract to my Tollhouse cookies the o ther day..mmm