Spiced Honey Semifreddo With Dried Fruit And Almonds Recipes

SPICED HONEY FRUIT SALAD WITH PECANS

Steps:

• For the spicy roasted pecans: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and coat with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, cayenne, ginger and egg white. Whisk until foamy. Fold in the pecans until fully incorporated.
• Transfer the pecans to the prepared baking sheet in an even layer. Bake until fragrant, about 20 minutes. Let cool.
• For the fruit salad: Cut a slit into the habanero. Combine the honey and orange juice in a small saucepot and add the habanero and cinnamon. Heat until just simmering, about 40 seconds. Let stand for 10 minutes, then remove the habanero.
• To serve: Toss the cantaloupe, grapes, kiwis and apples with the honey syrup, then coarsely crumble the pecans on top.

SWEET AND SPICY ALMONDS

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread the almonds onto a baking sheet, and toast until the nuts start to turn golden brown and become fragrant, about 10 minutes. Watch the nuts carefully as they bake: they burn quickly.
• Stir together the sugar, salt, and cayenne pepper in a mixing bowl; set aside.
• Stir together the water, honey, and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the mixture begins to bubble, stir in the toasted almonds until evenly moistened. Pour the almonds into the sugar and spice mixture, and toss until evenly coated. Spread onto baking sheets in a single layer, and cool to room temperature.

WILDFLOWER-HONEY SEMIFREDDO WITH HONEY SESAME WAFERS

Steps:

• Make semifreddo:
• Sprinkle gelatin over 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and let stand to soften.
• Beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds soft peaks, then chill, covered.
• Stir together honey, sugar, salt, and remaining 2 tablespoons water in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Boil, undisturbed, until mixture registers 238°F on thermometer (soft-ball stage; you may need to tilt pan to get temperature; see cooks' note, below), about 4 minutes.
• Beat yolks in a medium bowl with cleaned beaters at high speed until they are thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and pour hot honey mixture in a slow stream into yolks (try to avoid beaters and side of bowl). Reserve pan. Immediately add gelatin mixture to hot honey pan, swirling until dissolved, then beat liquid gelatin into yolk mixture and continue to beat until mixture is pale, thick, and completely cool, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Fold one third of whipped cream into honey mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined, then fold in remaining whipped cream gently but thoroughly.
• Divide mixture evenly among ramekins, then cover with plastic wrap and freeze until frozen, at least 1 hour.
• Make sesame toffee:
• Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Stir together cream, sugar, honey, and salt in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is golden and registers 260°F on thermometer (hard-ball stage; see cooks' note, below), about 6 minutes.
• Remove mixture from heat and immediately stir in sesame seeds, then pour evenly onto parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and spread into a very thin layer (about a 9-inch round) with an offset spatula. Cool to room temperature, about 5 minutes (candy will be slightly flexible), then chill on sheet in the refrigerator until hard, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove toffee from parchment and break into very small pieces (less than 1/4 inch) with your hands or a rolling pin.
• Make honey sesame wafers:
• Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, then add honey, beating until combined. Beat in egg white until combined well, then reduce speed to low and add flour and salt until combined. Chill batter, covered, until slightly firm, about 30 minutes.
• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment. Using offset spatula, spread half of batter (about 1/3 cup) into a very thin, sheer 14- by 11-inch rectangle on 1 sheet. Using tip of spatula or a butter knife, section off 12 squares by scraping knife through batter to make a 1/4-inch-wide space between batter sections. Sprinkle half of sesame toffee evenly over batter. Repeat with remaining batter and brittle on second sheet. Bake wafers, switching position of sheets and rotating 180 degrees halfway through baking, until golden (some parts may be pale golden), about 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature on sheets on racks, about 10 minutes. Peel parchment off wafers.
• Make orange topping:
• Peel and cut any white pith from oranges with a sharp knife. Cut oranges lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, discarding white pith from center, then cut slices into 1/4-inch dice.
• Assemble dessert:
• Fill a large bowl with cool water and dip 1 ramekin (with semifreddo) into water 3 seconds.
• Run a sharp paring knife around edge, then invert ramekin onto a dessert plate, gently releasing semifreddo. (It may be necessary to run knife around more than once and gently pry semifreddo out slightly; if necessary, smooth top and sides with knife.) Repeat with remaining ramekins.
• Spoon diced orange over and around each semifreddo and serve each with 1 or 2 honey sesame wafers.

HONEY & SPICE ROASTED ALMONDS

Steps:

• Arrange almonds in a single layer in an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once., In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, salt and cayenne; set aside. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add roasted almonds and honey; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining sugar; cook 1 minute longer or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; add reserved sugar mixture and toss to coat., Immediately spread onto waxed paper; cool completely. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

SPICED DRIED FRUIT SALAD

Steps:

• Put all the dried fruit plus the cinnamon, cloves, honey, saffron, vanilla and lemon zest into a sauce pan. Add cold water to just barely cover the fruit.
• Place on stove on a low-medium heat and slowly bring to simmering point. Cook for 15 minutes, gently stirring once during this time. Remove from heat.
• Cool to desired serving temperature - remove cinnamon & cloves (if you can find them). Just before serving stir in the almonds, pistachios and a few drops of orange flower water (or to taste).
• Note: if you prefer you can place the cinnamon & cloves into a muslin bag to make removal easier.

HONEY-SPICED ALMONDS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• 2. Heat a large sauté pan on high, and add olive oil. Add almonds to pan, toast for 1 minute stirring often, and reduce heat to low. Continue to stir until the almonds are light golden brown, 6-7 minutes. Add honey and spices, salt and sesame seeds and stir to coat evenly.
• 3. Spread nuts out evenly on to a large sheet tray and place in the oven until honey is dry, 10-15 minutes. Allow nuts to cool before serving.

ALMOND SEMIFREDDO

Steps:

• 1 Line a 9 × 5 × 3-inch metal loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the ends. Chill the pan in the freezer. At least 20 minutes before you are ready to whip the cream, place a large bowl and the beaters of an electric mixer in the refrigerator. 2 When ready, remove the bowl and beaters from the refrigerator. Pour the cream and vanilla into the bowl and whip the cream at high speed until it holds its shape softly when the beaters are lifted, about 4 minutes. Return the bowl to the refrigerator. 3 In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. 4 In a large mixer bowl, beat the eggs with the mixer on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Slowly beat the hot sugar syrup into the eggs in a thin stream. Continue beating until the mixture is very light and fluffy and feels cool to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes. 5 With a flexible spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture. Gently fold in the cookie crumbs and chopped almonds. 6 Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Cover securely with the plastic wrap and freeze 4 hours up to overnight. 7 Unwrap the pan. Invert a serving plate on top of the pan. Holding the plate and pan together, invert them both. Lift off the pan and carefully remove the plastic wrap. Sprinkle with the sliced almonds. 8 Cut into slices and serve immediately. From "1,000 Italian Recipes." Copyright 2004 by Michele Scicolone. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.