Sugar-Coated Almonds - alternative recipe from Vivacity

[Thermomixer]

I tried the other recipe that I posted from a German site and I must say we were not particularly impressed. They weren't crisp enough, i.e. the almonds were still quite soft even after cooling. Didn't matter because I just chopped the result in the TMX and then rolled a roll of biscuit dough in the chopped almond mix and cut into slices before baking (see the recipe for Fresian biscuits).

This is supposed to be a better result but I haven't tried it out yet. Source: www.rezeptwelt.de.

Ingredients:

1 pack of unpeeled almonds (200g)
80 g brown (or white sugar)
1/2 tsp Christmas spice mix or cinnamon
about 10g water

Preparation

Put almonds, sugar and spices in TMX, place lid on top and cook 6min/varoma/soft stir/reverse. Add water and cook a further 9m/varoma/speed1/reverse. Tip out the almonds onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and distribute evenly so that they don't stick together. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180C. Turn the almonds so that they bake evenly. Watch out that they don't burn.

I hope this recipe is more successful.

[brazen20au]

i had just printed the other off and was about to make it!
will try this one instead

[brazen20au]

just tried this one and it was a bit of a disaster, could be my fault though...

didn't have almonds so used mixed nuts. the larger nuts survived ok but anything smaller ended up in power or tiny pieces. i had to sto pthe thermomix 3 minutes early or i wouldn't have had anything left

accidentally put in 20g water (10g is a teensy amount). not sure if it made a difference of not

could be my dodgy oven but 15 mins burned them all, except the ones covered in nut and sugar powder which didn't 'crystallise' as all   they didn't look burned when i took them out of the oven though, they looked perfect

and the end result has very little cinnamon taste or even sweetness (though it could be the burnt taste taking over )

they did smell divine when first cooking in the thermomix though!

[Thermomixer]

Bummer - maybe I'll scrap the better recipe? although we haven't tried the others. 

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

What a bummer they didn't turn out Karen.  I was planning to give these a go, but may have a rethink.

[brazen20au]

seriously, it could just be the size of my nuts (snigger) and my dodgy oven, i'd like someone else to give them a go, please?!

[faffa_70]

just out of curiosity what would Christmas Spice mix have in it do you think?

[cookie1]

???cinnamon, mixed spice, all spice??? not really sure-just guessing.

[vivacity]

The reviews on the German site were all good, so I was really surprised that they had turned out so disastrously for Brazen.

I raced into the kitchen after reading the review to make the almonds myself.

I used a 200g packet of supermarket almonds (the cheap kind). You need to cook them the second time for about 9 minutes until the almonds are dry and covered in a sugary coating. Yes, you do only need 10ml of water even if this doesn't seem enough. You'll notice when the almonds are ready when the blades no longer turn. I baked them for about 12 minutes in the oven but I will cut the baking time next time to around 10 minutes. The almonds are definitely crunchier than the first recipe I posted and I personally prefer this version.

As for the spice mixture,  I think you could use cinnamon or a mixture of Christmas spices such as nutmeg, a little allspice, etc.

Hope this helps...

P. S.  I have learned my lesson - test the recipes before I post them

[brazen20au]

no no vivacity, as i said it could well be me! please keep posting cause i don't mind at all trialling them!

[debs]

I just made these - yummmm.  Worked well for me just following vivacity's instructions and only using cinnamon.

Thanks, these will be fantastic for christmas

Debs

[JulieO]

I just made this version of the nuts, but to be honest we much prefer the other one. 

I found most of the sugar was left behind in the bowl and after being in the oven and allowing to cool, they were crisper than the others but not much flavour.

I'm going to re-use them and make the other version and if need be will crisp again in the oven.  I didn't add cinnamon to the other version but I like that addition so will use it.

[Thermomixer]

Thanks JulieO - just bought some almonds to try these out.

[JulieO]

I re-used the almonds and had to add more to make up to the 250g.  Made using the other recipe and then finished off in the oven for 10 mins and allowed to cool.

Just checked them and they are great.  Really crunchy with a great flavour.  Will stick with the first recipe Vivacity, but I like the addition of finishing off in the oven.   

Julie.

[I Love Bimby!]

Thanks for your testing Julie. I have all of the ingredients ready to try and both recipes printed out, so I'll go with the first one