Gingered Almonds Recipes

GINGER AND ALMOND BARS

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line the pan with baking parchment, letting the parchment hang over the sides. (This will make it easier to remove the dessert once baked.)
• Prepare the base:
• In the saucepan, melt the butter. Add the almond meal, fresh ginger, honey, egg, salt, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. The mixture should be thick and sticky.
• Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan. To help make a level and even base, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the base. Using a flat-bottomed glass (or your fingers), smooth out the base by pressing gently to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Remove and discard the plastic wrap. Bake until the base is slightly firm, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the topping:
• In the same saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the almonds, candied ginger, honey, salt, and vanilla. Stir just until the ingredients are incorporated.
• When the base is baked, spread the topping evenly over the base and bake until the topping is dark and sizzling, 12 to 15 minutes. Do not underbake.
• Transfer the pan to the baking rack to cool. When the dessert is completely cool, remove it from the pan using the overhanging parchment as handles and cut it into 16 even squares.
• Do Ahead
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• Variation:
• Chestnut Honey Squares: For the base, replace 1 cup (90g) almond meal with 3/4 cup (120 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour and use a strong honey, such as chestnut, in place of the mild honey. For the topping, replace the candied ginger with organic candied orange or lemon peel, cut into tiny cubes.

LEMON-SCENTED GINGER ALMOND CRISPS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove almonds to a shallow bowl to cool. Turn off oven.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, ginger, lemon zest, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add butter, molasses, and lemon and vanilla extracts, and beat until combined. With a wooden spoon, stir in almonds and crystallized ginger.
• Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 7-by-3-inch rectangle about 1 1/4 inches thick. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until very firm, about 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats (nonstick French baking mats) or parchment paper.
• Using a sharp knife, cut rectangles crosswise into very thin slices, thinner than 1/8 inch, if possible. Arrange on prepared baking sheets 1/2 inch apart. Bake until just beginning to darken around edges, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer crisps to wire racks to cool.

GINGER-SPICED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. In 15x10x1-inch pan, spread almonds. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted.
• Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix remaining ingredients except egg whites and butter; set aside. In large bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Continue beating, gradually adding sugar mixture. Fold in almonds.
• Place butter in same pan. Place in oven 3 to 5 minutes or until butter is melted. Spread almond mixture over butter. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until almonds are brown and no butter remains. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Store in airtight container.

ALMOND GINGERS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, mix sugar and ginger.
• Cut cookie dough into 32 (1/4-inch-thick) slices. Shape each slice into ball and roll in sugar-ginger mixture; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Press almond on top of each cookie.
• Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

GINGERED ALMOND TRUFFLE TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a small heavy saucepan, heat cream and ginger until bubbles form around sides of pan. Remove from heat., Place flour, almonds, confectioners' sugar and cocoa in a food processor; pulse until blended. Add cold butter; pulse until butter is the size of peas. While pulsing, add 1/4 cup amaretto to form moist crumbs. Press onto bottom and up sides of an ungreased 9-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Bake 13-16 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack., Place chocolate in a small bowl. Bring gingered cream just to a boil. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer over chocolate; discard ginger. Stir chocolate mixture with a whisk until smooth; stir in softened butter and remaining amaretto until blended. Pour into cooled crust. Refrigerate, covered, at least 2 hours or until set.

GINGER ALMONDS BY ALTON BROWN

Steps:

• 1. Heat the oven to 250 degrees F.
• 2. Combine the ginger and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
• 3. Chop up the arbol chile until most pieces are around 1/8". I usually use dried chile.
• 4.Heat the olive oil and sesame oil in a medium-large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the arbol chile and cook, stirring frequently, until the chile begins to give off an aroma, 30 to 45 seconds.
• 5. Add the almonds and cook, stirring frequently until lightly toasted, approximately 5 minutes.
• 6. Add the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and cook until reduced slightly and the pan looks dry, approximately 1 minute.
• 7. Immediately remove the nuts to the large bowl and toss with the ginger mixture.
• 8. Spread the coated nuts into a single layer on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pan to a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes or until completely cool.
• 9. Keep dry in a sealed container and it'll easily last a few weeks, that is if it hasn't been eaten long before.

GINGER-GLAZED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Melt butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat. Add remaining ingredients except almonds and cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, then add almonds and stir until coated.
• Spread almonds in a lightly oiled shallow baking pan (1 inch deep)and bake, stirring occasionally, until insides of nuts are golden (cut 1 open to test), about 25 minutes. Cool completely.

GINGERED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl combine salt, ginger, coriander and pepper. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Whisk in honey, then spices. Using a rubber spatula, fold in bay leaves and almonds.
• Spread almond mixture in a single layer on baking sheets. Bake, stirring nuts and rotating baking sheets once or twice, until almonds are dry and crisp. Serve immediately or spread out on baking racks covered with parchment to cool. Keep in an airtight container for up to a week.

GINGER ALMOND GRANOLA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 F and grease 9x13 baking dish.
• Combine rolled oats, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ in dish; bake 10 minutes and remove from oven.
• Add remaining dry ingredients (almonds through salt) to dish and stir to combine; add wet ingredients (oil through almond extract) and stir until completely combined.
• Bake 18-20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until uniformly golden; granola will not be chunky yet, but will "harden up" as it cools.
• Remove dish to rack and cool, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to pan; store in airtight container.

GINGERED SESAME-ALMOND SHORTBREAD BARK

Steps:

• Brush bottom and sides of a 10-by-15-inch baking pan with softened butter. Line pan with parchment, with a 2-inch overhang on each long side, then brush parchment with more butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place flour, ginger, salt, baking powder, and 1/2 cup sugar in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until dough just comes together. Scatter evenly in pan, then press firmly to flatten. Brush dough with egg white to moisten, then scatter with almonds, sesame seeds, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in alternating even layers.
• Bake until golden, about 35 minutes. Transfer bark on parchment to a cutting board. Immediately cut into 24 pieces (4 strips on short side, 6 on long side), then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Bark can be made 3 days ahead and stored at room temperature.