Torrone (Sicilian Almond Nougat)

The coveted almond. Everywhere you turn today you hear how nutritious and healthy the almond is. If you're gluten free almond flour is the replacement for most of the recipes that use white flour.  

For the Sicilians, we already knew this information long ago. The island of Sicily is covered in almond, olive and lemon trees. Many of our recipes include one of these items. You ate what grew in your region and that's how the recipes developed.

For me the American born Sicilian my memories of visiting Sicily every summer with my parents included daily visits to my Zio's campagna ( my uncles country house).  At his campagna we picked the almond from the tree, cracked it open with a rock on the cement and ate those beautiful milky almonds right from the center....we ate until either we got tired of  cracking them open or until we were going to bust. You can never appreciate the beauty and the taste of that almond until you have had it in that raw state. (Below is a picturewhat the almond fruit looks like growing on the tree)

This is why many Sicilian dessert recipes whether it be cookies, candies or cakes are made with almonds.  In my childhood home the nut bowl (in their respective shells, with the nutcracker of course) always made an appearance at the end of the Sunday or holiday meal, right along side of the fruit.. 

Here I share the recipe for Torrone..a special occasion treat.. You'll need good strong biceps for stirring the last step of this dish!!

2 cups of unsalted roasted almonds

1 cup of white sugar

4 tbsp of water

2 tbsp of white vinegar

About 1 tbsp of orange or lemon zest

• Put all the ingredients together in a pot on the stove at medium flame
• 
  
  
• Use a wooden spoon and slowly mix all the ingredients 
• 
  
  
• Continue stirring the sugar will start to melt. Mix continuously.
• 
  
  
• The sugar will then crystallize again...  Continue to stir.  Do not stop stirring. This is where you need strong biceps.
• 
  
  
• I promise the sugar will melt again and once it is completely melted and the color is Amber remove the pot from the flame and pour the content on a sheet of aluminum foil. The entire cooking process is about 20 minutes.
  
• 
  

  
  
  
  
• With a spatula quickly flatten the hot almonds to form a sheet about 3/4" thick.
• 
  
  
• Let it cool for about 5 minutes and with a chefs knife cut the entire sheet in squares of about 2"  on each side.
• 
  
  
• Be careful to remove the aluminum foil from all the pieces and let them completely cool off.

Variation: you can use half honey, half sugar to make it a little more nutritious.

Enjoy

Buon Appetito!👌

Lucia

Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

12 ounces (about 2 cups) dark chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips I use ghiardelli
12 ounces (about 2 cups) white chocolate, chopped, or white chocolate chips
8 peppermint candy canes
Double boiler or a metal or glass bowl over a pot of boiling water
Peppermint extract

Preparation:

1. place the candy canes in a large Ziploc bag and seal tightly. Use a rolling pin to roll/smash the candy canes until they are the size you desire.

2. Prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with smooth aluminum foil./or wax paper

3. Melt the dark chocolate. Pour the chocolate onto the prepared cookie sheet and use an offset spatula or knife to spread it to an even thickness, a little more than 1/8" thick. The chocolate does not have to reach all sides of the sheet, as it will be broken up later anyhow. Place the tray in the refrigerator to firm up while you prepare the white chocolate.

4. While the dark chocolate hardens, melt the white chocolate, add a few drops of peppermint extract into white chocolate.

5. Remove the tray from the refrigerator and spread the white chocolate in an even layer over the dark chocolate.

6. While the white chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the candy cane pieces over the entire surface evenly. Press down very slightly to ensure they stick. Place the tray back in the refrigerator to firm up for 30 minutes.

7. Once the peppermint bark bark is completely set, break into small, uneven pieces by hand.