Chocolatealmondapricotbrittle Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and cook, stirring once, until toasted, about 10 minutes and set aside.
• Lay a silicone baking mat on a rimmed baking sheet (or line the pan with aluminum foil and lightly butter). Spread the butter on the underside of a large offset metal spatula. Whisk the cocoa and baking soda together in a small bowl.
• Put the sugar, corn syrup and 3/4 cup water in a deep medium saucepan and attach a candy thermometer to the side. Cook over medium heat, stirring gently with a wooden spoon, just until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and boil the mixture until it reaches 310 degrees F or hard-crack stage.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully whisk in the cocoa mixture until combined. Stir in the toasted nuts with a wooden spoon. Working quickly, pour the hot brittle onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it as thin as possible with the buttered spatula. Cool for 5 minutes, then loosen the brittle from the pan with the spatula. Cool completely and then break into pieces. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Steps:

• Grease a rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil.In a small bowl toss together the almonds, chocolate chips and apricots. Put them on the baking sheet spreading them out into an even single layer across the entire baking sheet.
• In a medium heavyduty saucepan, stir together the sugar and water. Cook over medium-high heat stirring until sugar disolves.Very Important:Do not stir after that, as additional stirring will create a grainy texture to your candy. Instead, using a pastry brush dipped in warm water, brush the sides of the pan incorporating any of the sugar that has stuck to the sides of the pan. If sugar crystals begin to form on the edges of the pan, place the lid on for 2 to 3 minutes (being careful not to allow the pan to overflow) so that the steam will evaporate the crystals. If sugar crystals are not brushed down, this will lead to large globs of hard sugar on/in your syrup and your syrup will not carmelize. Continue to wipe down the edges and cook until the syrup turns golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Towards the end of cooking time the syrup must be watched closely as it changes from golden to dark very quickly.
• Carefully pour the carmelized sugar over the nut mixture on the cookie sheet. Also be careful not to move the cookie sheet after the sugar has been poured. The baking sheet will be very hot in the beginning. Let cool for at least 2 hours.
• Break the brittle into pieces and place on a serving dish.

Steps:

• For the apricot jam: In a medium saucepan, soak the apricots in the Sauternes until softened, about 30 minutes.
• Add the granulated sugar, the vanilla bean seeds, the scraped vanilla bean pod and 2 1/2 cups of water to the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower to a simmer and continue to cook slowly until the apricots are very soft and the mixture is slightly caramelized, 1 hour or more.
• Add the lemon juice and lemon zest and simmer for 10 minutes more. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool.
• When cool, remove the vanilla bean pod and place the apricot mixture in a food processor and pulse until slightly chunky. Drain off the excess liquid, if there is any. Refrigerate the apricot jam in a covered container until ready to use.
• For the chocolate shells: Melt 24 ounces of the chocolate in a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water fitted with a digital or chocolate tempering thermometer. Heat to 115 to 120 degrees F.
• Remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and add the remaining 8 ounces of chocolate. Stir until all the added chocolate has melted. The temperature of the chocolate should be below 86 degrees F. If not, allow the chocolate to continue to cool, stirring frequently, until it reaches 85 to 86 degrees F.
• Place the bowl of chocolate over the simmering water again and reheat for a few seconds at a time, stirring well, until the temperature has risen to 87 to 91 degrees F. (Do not allow the temperature of the chocolate to exceed 91 degrees F, or you will have to repeat the procedure from the beginning.) Wipe any moisture from the underside of the bowl before proceeding.
• Ladle the tempered chocolate into a 24-cavity half-sphere polycarbonate chocolate mold, filling the cavities completely. Tap the mold on the table or countertop several times to release air bubbles in the chocolate. Invert the mold over a large, clean bowl and allow the excess chocolate to drip out. Scrape the drips with a large thin spatula or blade and then invert the mold again. Scrape once more, making sure to leave clean edges around each cavity in the mold.
• Scrape any leftover chocolate into one bowl. Reheat and maintain the temperature between 87 to 91 degrees F.
• Leave the shells to set at cool room temperature, or place the mold in the refrigerator for no more than 5 minutes to help the chocolate begin to set. Reserve the remaining tempered chocolate for the spider legs.
• For the chocolate almond croquant: In a small bowl, mix the almond butter with the dark chocolate. Set aside and keep warm.
• Place a small saucepan over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Allow the sugar to melt without stirring. Tilt the pan if necessary to help the sugar melt evenly. Add 2 or 3 additional tablespoons of sugar and allow it to melt. The sugar may begin to caramelize at this point. Raise or lower the heat as needed to control the melting and prevent the sugar from burning. Continue to add the sugar in increasing increments until it has all been incorporated. Make sure all the sugar has melted (you may stir gently at this point) and continue to heat until a slight smoking of the caramelized sugar occurs.
• Immediately remove the pan from the heat and add the butter. Stir the mixture until the caramel absorbs most of the butter. Reheat the caramel, if necessary, to keep it fluid.
• Reheat the almond butter and chocolate mixture if necessary. It should feel warm to the touch. Scrape the mixture onto a nonstick silicone mat and spread to a thickness of about 1/4-inch.
• Have ready 2 bench scrapers. Pour the caramelized sugar and butter mixture onto the top of the almond butter and chocolate mixture. Using the bench scrapers, fold the mixture over itself repeatedly. The more you mix, the smoother the texture will become. As you continue to fold, the mixture will begin to cool and will absorb any butter or chocolate that has leaked out.
• Quickly shape the croquant mixture evenly, cover it with another silicone baking mat and use a rolling pin to roll the croquant to 3/8-inch-thickness. Remove the mixture from the silicone mats and cut it into disks slightly smaller than your hollow chocolate shells.
• To assemble: Transfer the apricot jam to a disposable pastry bag and snip a small opening. Pipe the jam into the prepared chocolate shells, filling about halfway. Press a croquant disk into the mold, making sure to leave a slight headspace.
• Ladle the remaining tempered chocolate onto the top of the mold, filling in the headspace of each chocolate shell. Tap the mold a few times on the table to release air bubbles. Use a spatula or blade to scrape the excess chocolate from the top of the mold. Let set at cool room temperature for a minimum of 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
• Before unmolding the filled chocolate shells, place the mold in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes. Well-tempered chocolate will contract as it sets and release cleanly. Remove from the refrigerator, flex the mold slightly, and carefully invert to release the chocolates. These will be your spider bodies.
• Arrange the spider bodies on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer some of the remaining tempered chocolate to a small pastry bag and pipe a small mound of chocolate that touches each spider body. This will be the spider¿s head. Allow these to set until firm.
• Pipe spider legs onto a separate piece of parchment or waxed paper. When the legs are set, carefully remove them from the parchment paper and use the reserved tempered chocolate to attach the legs to the bodies.

Steps:

• In a 1 1/2 quart microwavable bowl,combine sugar,corn syrup and salt.
• Mix well.
• Microwave on high for 4 minutes.
• Stir in almonds,microwave on high for 4 minutes.
• Add the butter and vanilla,microwave on high for 1 and 1/2 minutes.
• Stir in baking soda.
• AS sson as mixture foams,quickly pour onto a greased metal baking sheet.
• Cool completely.
• Break into 2 inch pieces.
• Melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.
• Dip one side of brittle in chocolate and place on waxed paper to harden.

Steps:

• Butter a baking sheet or use a silicone baking mat (preferred).
• Bring about 1 inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan with a bowl fitted to sit just above the simmering water. Add the chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the almonds. Spread on the baking sheet in a thin uniform layer. Let set for 5 minutes, then sprinkle with the salt. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Break the bark into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Store in a cool, dry place, stacked between layers of foil or parchment in an airtight container. The bark will keep, tightly sealed in your pantry, for up to a week.

Steps:

• Grind 25 almonds from the pound.
• Put butter, sugar and whole almonds into heavy cast aluminum pan. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat slightly after sugar melts to keep from turning too dark. Keep stirring briskly. Cook to almost hard crack stage, about 290 degrees F on candy thermometer. This will take about 10 to 12 minutes.
• Pour onto ungreased cookie sheets to about the thickness of an almond.
• Melt semisweet chocolate and smear on top of warm brittle. Sprinkle ground nuts on top of the chocolate. Cool and chill until chocolate hardens. Break into pieces.

Steps:

• Put the dried apricots into a small saucepan, cover them with the cold water, and drop in the cracked cardamom pods with their fragrant seeds. Put on the heat, then bring to the boil and let it bubble for 10 minutes--don't stray too far away from the pan, as by the end of the 10 minutes the pan will be just about out of water and you want to make sure it doesn't actually run dry as the apricots will absorb more water as they cool.
• Take the pan off the heat, place on a cold, heatproof surface and let the apricots cool. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/gas mark 4/350 degrees F. Grease the sides of your springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.
• Remove 5 of the dried apricots and tear each in half, then set aside for the time being. Discard the cardamom husks, leaving the seeds in the pan.
• Pour and scrape out the sticky contents of the pan into the bowl of a food processor. Add the almond meal, polenta, baking powder, superfine sugar and eggs, and give a good long blitz to combine.
• Open the top of the processor, scrape down the batter, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and the rosewater, and blitz again, then scrape into the prepared tin and smooth with a spatula. Arrange the apricot halves around the circumference of the tin.
• Bake for 40 minutes, though if the cake is browning up a lot before it's actually ready, you may want to cover loosely with foil at the 30-minute mark. When it's ready, the cake will be coming away from the edges of the tin, the top will feel firm, and a cake tester will come out with just one or two damp crumbs on it.
• Remove the cake to a wire rack. If you're using apricot jam to decorate, you may want to warm it a little first so that it's easier to spread; rose petal jam is so lusciously soft-set, it shouldn't need any help. Stir a teaspoon of lemon juice into the jam and brush over the top of the cake, then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and leave the cake to cool in its tin before unspringing and removing to a plate.

Steps:

• Grease a 15x10x1-in. metal baking pan; set aside. In a 1-1/2-qt. microwave-safe bowl, combine the sugar, corn syrup and salt. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 2-1/2 minutes. Stir in almonds; cook on high for 2-1/2 minutes. Add the butter and vanilla; cook on high for 1 minute., Stir in baking soda. As soon as the mixture foams, quickly pour onto a greased metal baking sheet. Cool completely. Break into 2-in. pieces. , Melt chocolate coating in a microwave. Dip 1 side of brittle int chocolate and place on waxed paper to harden. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Toast almonds by spreading them in a single layer on a plate and microwaving on high for 2 to 3 minutes (stir after each minute). On foil-lined baking sheet, arrange almonds in a single layer over an area measuring approximately 13x9 inches. In a heavy 2-quart saucepan combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Cook over med-high heat, stirring constantly with a clean, dry wooden spoon till butter is melted. Continue cooking and stirring for approximately. 7 to 10 minutes until candy is the color of the brown skin of the almonds; it will start smoking slightly. Immediately pour candy, without scraping pan, over almonds, covering all nuts. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the hot candy. Wait 1 minute and spread the melted chocolate until it is smooth. Sprinkle with pecans. Let cool and break into pieces. Store in a tightly covered container in cool place or refrigerator.

Steps:

• Make apricot filling:
• In a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan combine apricots, granulated sugar, and water and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove lid and simmer mixture, stirring and mashing apricots, until excess liquid is evaporated and filling is thickened. Stir in vanilla.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. and grease and flour an 8-inch-square baking pan, knocking out excess flour.
• Make chocolate chip mixture:
• In a shallow baking pan toast pecans in middle of oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes, and cool. In a food processor pulse pecans, flour, brown sugar, and salt until pecans are coarsely chopped. Add chocolate chips and butter and pulse until pecan mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Press about half of chocolate chip mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan and spread evenly with apricot filling. Crumble remaining chocolate chip mixture evenly over apricot filling, pressing it down slightly, and bake confection in middle of oven 1 hour, or until golden. Cool confection completely in pan on a rack. Sprinkle confection with confectioners' sugar and cut into 16 bars.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Generously spray or brush a nonstick donut pan with cooking spray; set aside until needed.
• Place eggs, vegetable oil, and maple syrup into a mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly until the mixture is emulsified, light, and a little bit foamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add almond flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder; mix everything together thoroughly with a spatula until all the almond flour is incorporated and you've achieved a very thick batter.
• Transfer batter into a pastry bag, or a plastic zip-top bag with one of the corners cut off. Pipe the batter evenly into the prepared donut pan.
• Dip a finger in water and smooth the tops of the batter to even out. Tap the pan on a work surface a few times to settle the batter even more.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until a wooden skewer inserted into a donut comes out clean, 9 to 10 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F Grease a cookie sheet with the almond oil. Place the almonds on a separate baking sheet and toast them until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
• In a medium, very heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar liquefies, then turns light golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. It should register 238°F on a candy thermometer; this is referred to as the soft ball stage. Do not stir, but brush th sugar crystals off the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush as necessary. Once the sugar begins to brown, watch carefully and remove from heat as soon as it is the desired color, as the sugar can burn quickly.
• Once the caramel is off the heat, immediately add the almonds to the pot and stir quickly to incorporate. Turn out onto the prepared cookie sheet, spreading quickly to an even thickness. Allow the brittle to cool completely, then break into festive shapes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
• Place 3/4 cup of toasted almonds in a food processor and pulse until ground.
• Beat butter in large bowl for 30 seconds, then add sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat until combined.
• Beat in eggs and almond extract.
• Beat in as much of the flour as you can with mixer.
• By Hand, stir in remaining flour, the ground almonds and the remaining 3/4 cup of sliced almonds.
• On pieces of wax paper, shape dough into two 14 inch long rolls.
• Place rolls on prepared cookie sheet at least 5 inches apart, flatten slightly.
• Bake 25-30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near centers comes out clean.
• Cool on cookie sheet for 1 hour.
• Cut each roll diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices.
• Place slices, cut sides down, on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 8 minutes.
• Turn slices; bake 7 to 9 minutes more or until cookies are dry and begin to crisp (do not overbake).
• Remove from cookie sheets to wire racks.
• Cool completely.
• If desired, to make glaze or drizzle, place semi sweet chips and white chips in separate small microwave safe bowls.
• Add 1 teaspoon of shortening to each bowl.
• Microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring once; stir.
• If necessary, microwave an additional 15 seconds or until chips are melted and mixtures are smooth when stirred.
• Dip biscotti into mixtures or drizzle over tops.