Recipe: Homemade Almond Paste with Variations

ALMOND PASTE

"The confection is the basis for many sweetmeats. It can be colored and flavored with rose, orange, and pistachio and used to stuff dates and prunes or embraced with matching halves of walnuts. You can buy it in the baking section of most supermarkets and then tint and color it yourself, but it is a fraction of the cost to make it yourself and yours will be much fresher.

A modern facsimile of this ancient hand-pounded confection can be made swiftly in a food processor. It's good to make it at least a week in advance so that the flavor of the almonds can ripen fully. It will keep for six months, refrigerated, so you can make it well before the holiday season becomes hectic.

There are many varieties of almonds, and they differ in shape, size, and taste. Unfortunately there are not so many varieties to choose from in a typical market, but the mission almond, grown in California, can occasionally be found. Missions are small; there are usually two almonds with hard, pointed tips in a shell, tightly curved against each other. They are a little harder to peel than other almonds, but their flavor is clearly and pronouncedly almond, closer to the virtually unobtainable butter almond that is traditionally used in almond paste and marzipan, and they smell wonderful when they are being ground."

Makes approximately 1 pound

2 cups whole almonds, preferably Mission
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
a few drops of almond extract

Cover the almonds with boiling water and let them stand for at least a minute. Slip off the skins with your fingers. If they are very stubborn, cover them again with boiling water or let them soak and remove them just a few at a time to work on.

Combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a pan and cook, without stirring, until the temperature is 235 degrees F. Then stir in the almond extract.

While the syrup is heating, preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Put the peeled almonds on a cookie sheet and leave them just long enough to dry out and warm up, about 8 to 10 minutes. Then, while they're still warm, grind them in a food processor until the texture is fine and smooth. If necessary, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water to loosen the mixture and make it easier to process.

With the food processor going, gradually pour in the syrup in a slow, steady stream. Process until the paste is uniform. Remove it from the work bowl, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it until needed. To make it soft and easy to work with, put it in a warm place, such as on top of the stove while the oven is on, or heat it in a double boiler or a steamer set over simmering water.

VARIATIONS:

ORANGE ALMOND PASTE

1 recipe almond paste
grated zest of 4 large oranges, or more to taste
2 teaspoons orange flower water, or to taste
1 drop orange food coloring, or more

Knead the almond paste with the rest of the ingredients or mix them in the food processor. Make any other additions, such as more orange flower water or coloring, gradually and carefully. The flavors will deepen as the paste ripens.

ROSE ALMOND PASTE

1 recipe almond paste
a few drops of beet juice or red food coloring
1 to 2 teaspoons rose water, or to taste

Knead the almond paste with a few drops of beet juice or food coloring until it is as pink as you wish. Then work in rose water to taste.

PISTACHIO-ALMOND PASTE

In the almond paste recipe, replace 1/2 cup of the almonds with 1/2 cup unsalted pistachio nuts. Put the pistachios in a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 10 minutes to dry and loosen the skins; then remove the skins with a paring knife or your fingers. They should come right off. Work the pistachio nuts with the almonds in the food processor. If you wish to end up with a uniform pale green color, add either some concentrated spinach juice, a drop or 2 of green food coloring, or about a tablespoon of powdered Japanese green tea, matcha (a wonderful suggestion from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible)

Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Bantam
Source: The Savory Way by Deborah Madison