frackledJJ
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Not only during Oktoberfest. You get them everywhere, at every fest, in every town, and they are, I agree, d*mn yummy. How you make them, though, is another storry, because you need to melt the sugar, but not let it caramelize (which it basically does from one second to the next if the temperature gets too high). You can spice the sugar with whatever you want, though cinnamon and vanilla are the usual ingredients. They are selling candied /burned almonds with coconut-flakes, chili or other funky flavors in the sugar coat. Experiment with that if you want to.
Well, what you really will need to do is STIR. As soon as you put the sugar in your pan (and there are no almonds in there yet, nor any flavoring) you need to stir. If you want to, you can add a little water or other fluid to the sugar, but only very little, because the water in your fluid will need to be cooked out of the mix for the almonds to get the rock-hard texture you want in the end. But it makes it less likely the sugar will burn, and you can add some extra flavor (think red wine, or lemon juice). Maybe that much fluid that all the sugar is just about wet, not more. You don't have to do that, however.
Anyway, when the sugar has melted completely, you add your spices and mix them very well in. Than you add the almonds (or, actually, any other kind of nut you would like in there. Peanuts, Macadamia, Cashew, Hazelnut, Pecan... what you want) and - you guessed it: STIR again until the sugar coates all your nuts/almonds evenly and than you keep on stiring until the sugar mixture stays on the nuts, doesn't drip of, doesn't puddle in the bottom of your pot... This is very hard to get right the first time. When you think they're ok, spread them out on a flat surface covered in baking paper. The nuts should not stick together too much, though of course they will, and clusters of nuts should be easily(!!!) seperatable with forks. The stickiness should lessen as they get colder. As a further help if you think they might still be a little too damp, you can sprinkle powdered sugar over them and see if the sugar-coat absorbs it. You can also roll the nuts in a little powdered sugar when they have cooled a little, so you can eat them while still warm, but without having the sugar-coat wrapped around your fingers.
As for amounts and stuff: I have no idea, since my mom always "shook them out the wrist", as we Germans say. Means: She just knew what she was doing and didn't need a recipe -> I've never seen one, either.
Just experiment, starting with the amount of almonds you want. I'd say e.g. maybe two cups of almonds, a little more than one cup of sugar, a tablespoon of cinnamon and three drops vanilla aroma. Good luck! |
Alwin E
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Take a Teflon coated pan, heat it up to around 120 C, pour some sugar into it and let it slowly melt until it gets darkish-yellow, but not brown. Add the almonds and stir thoroughly. You can add some more sugar to them and let it melt, but take care that the pan doesn't get too hot, as it will fry the sugar then instead of caramelizing it. When the pan gets too hot, do not add water, but fresh lemon juice instead (the juice of half a lemon); this will cool down the pan and "liquidify" the sugar coating. Use white sugar for sweet almonds, and brown cane sugar for the more tasteful version. |
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