Almond Roca Recipe 445

ALMOND ROCA RECIPE

Steps:

• Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and lightly butter the parchment, set aside.
• If your almonds are not toasted I would toast them and chop them now, by placing them in a single layer on a large baking sheet and baking at 300F/149C for 10 minutes. You need all elements of the recipe ready to go otherwise you risk the candy not setting up properly. Make sure the chocolate is finely chopped.
• In a large bottomed heavy pot add the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract and cook over medium-low heat. Do not increase the heat, you want the butter and sugar to melt evenly, once the sugar has melted completely, and the mixture is evenly combined increase the heat to medium, not high.
• Using a whisk mix everything constantly. Depending on how large your pot is, this process will take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. The mixture will start to bubble and thicken up and slowly change color. Use an instant-read thermometer or candy thermometer to keep checking the temperature of the toffee. Once the temperature has reached 295F/ 146C take-off of the heat and whisk in the baking soda. Once the baking soda is fully combined add the toasted almonds. Pour toffee onto the prepared pan and use an angled spatula to spread it into an even layer.
• Immediately sprinkle the chopped chocolate evenly over the toffee, you could take a piece of foil and "tent" the baking tray to help the steam stay in and melt the chocolate or what I do is place the baking sheet in the oven and turn the oven on to preheat, while the oven is warming and blowing warm air that will melt the chocolate in less than 5 minutes. Use another angled spatula to spread the chocolate then sprinkle with finely chopped toasted almonds pieces.
• Let the Almond Roca set up for 1 - 2 Hours. You can put it in the fridge to speed up the process but I suggest letting it cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour to prevent the chocolate from blooming, and turning white, it will still taste good the chocolate will just end up with white streaks.
• Break into pieces and store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

EASY HOMEMADE ALMOND ROCA

Steps:

• Over Medium heat, melt butter in a large pot.
• Add corn syrup, water and sugar to pot and cook until temp reaches 290 degrees OR until the mixture becomes the color of a brown paper bag (about 15-20 minutes) stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (mixture will rise and bubble quite a bit).
• Remove from heat and Stir in 1/2 of the Almonds.
• Turn mixture onto a greased cookie sheet WITH EDGES!
• While the mixture is cooling, melt the chocolate over low flame until all the chips are gone, and chocolate is smooth.
• Score the Almond butter mixture into the shape you desire (I just scored into rectangle shapes).
• Pour the hot chocolate over the almond mixture and spread evenly.
• Sprinkle with remaining almonds and allow candy to cool completely and chocolate to harden before breaking apart and serving.
• Note: I let mine refrigerate over night after breaking the into squares, and they had a better texture this way, we thought.

ALMOND ROCA

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Sprinkle 1/2 the chocolate and 1/2 the almonds onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Melt sugar and butter together in a stainless steel pan over low heat; increase heat to medium, stirring constantly, until boiling. Heat mixture to 310 degrees F (155 degrees C) or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Pour butter-sugar mixture over chocolate and almonds on baking sheet. Sprinkle remaining chocolate and almonds over butter-sugar mixture. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Break into pieces.

MARBLED ALMOND ROCA

Steps:

• Sprinkle almonds on a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 300° for 15 minutes or until toasted and golden brown; remove from the oven and set aside. , In a large saucepan over low heat, cook butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add water and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard-crack stage). Quickly pour over almonds. Sprinkle chips on top; let stand for 1-2 minutes or until melted. Spread and swirl chocolate over candy. Cool completely; break into pieces.

ALMOND ROCA RECIPE - (4/5)

Steps:

• Butter a 7 by 11 inch pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of toasted almonds on bottom of the pan. Set aside. In heavy saucepan at medium-high heat melt butter and add brown sugar. Stir until gently boiling. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and boil until a candy thermometer reads 300°F or the hard crack stage, about 12 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir to thoroughly blend butter and sugar. Pour hot mixture into pan over almonds. Place chocolate bars on top of warm toffee. When melted, spread chocolate carefully. Sprinkle with remaining toasted almonds and gently press them into the chocolate. Cool completely. Break into chunks with a sharp knife. Store in a covered container. Toffee doesn't like humidity, so make it on a dry day!

HOMEMADE "ALMOND ROCA"

Steps:

• DIRECTIONS.
• Place whole almonds in a freezer bag. Put this freezer bag in the second bag. Using the flat side of a meat tenderizer, hammer the almonds to crush them. You want some almond pieces to be large, some to be small.
• Measure 1.5 cups of crushed almonds and set aside.
• Measure 1 cup of crushed almonds into another container. Set aside.
• Set a cooling rack on the counter, with the sheet pan on top. Leave on the counter till ready to pour the toffee.
• Place the butter, then sugar, then water in the non-stick pot. Set the heat to half way between medium and medium-high (about the position of the 22nd minute on the clock).
• Allow ingredients to come to a boil WITHOUT STIRRING. DO NOT stir.
• Mixture will continue to a bubbly, rolling boil.
• Once the center of the mixture starts to turn form an opaque color to a very light caramel, add 1.5 cups of crushed almonds. The temperature will be about 245 to 250 degrees.
• Begin stirring the mixture once you add the almonds.
• Continue to stir until the mixture turns to a slightly darker color.
• As you stir and the mixture darkens, you will notice the mixture at the edge of the pot start to darken more than the mixture in the center. The sugar will be about 285 to 290 degrees. It's ready to pour.
• Pour the mix along the center part of the pan, lengthwise. Set the pot on a trivet or an unused burner on the stove.
• Using the wooden spoon or an icing spatula, quickly spread the mixture toward all the edges of the pan. Don't cover the entire half-sheet pan otherwise the toffee will be too thin.
• The toffee will set / harden some while spreading. You will be able to coax it a little to cover any holes created while spreading the mixture.
• Take the Hershey chocolate pieces and arrange over the toffee, working from the edges inward, in a circular pattern.
• After a minute, spread the melted chocolate to cover the toffee.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of crushed almonds over the chocolate.
• Wait 5 minutes.
• Lay 1-2 sheets of wax paper over the pan.
• Use a clean spatula or your hands (CAREFUL -- the pan is hot) to gently press the nuts into the chocolate.
• Leave in a cool room for about 30 minutes.
• Set in the fridge or in a VERY COLD room for several hours to allow the chocolate to set.
• If placing candy in the fridge (overnight is fine), bring "almond roca" to room temperature before serving.
• Note: When refrigerated, the toffee will lighten in color. This is fine. The candy will have to come to room temperature to regain its darker color.