TONS of ground almonds... Pastry uses/recipes/ideas?

[TheStarvingArtist]

I own a tiny patisserie, and my friends own a coffeeshop down the block. They've begun making their own almond milk, and are sending me all of the almond meal that's leftover. An awesome partnership, but I LITERALLY get 20-30 pounds of almond meal a week from them! I do a nice almond sponge and whatnot, but most of the recipes I find for using almond meal either use just a little bit, or are just not that great...
Anyone have any fantastic ideas/recipes that would help me use up my massive glut of fresh almond meal?

Thanks!

[minas6907]

Macarons or marzipan.

[paulraphael]

Tons of financier batter. You can freeze it for a pretty long time. It can make everything from traditional financiers to cupcakes to full-size cakes. You can scoop it or pipe it.

Also handy if you've been accumulating egg whites in the freezer. And if you like seriously delicious things.

[fvandrog]

Macarons

That's what I'd go for. Takes a bit of practise and fine-tuning, but there's nothing that can beat a handful of differently flavored macarons as a treat.

Here's a shop in town that specializes in macarons and literally charges a fortune for them -- they are irresistable!

[cakewalk]

Start making some Passover cakes.

 

But a serious question about making almond milk, and the meal that is left over. Does the almond meal still retain its full flavor? Or is it more important for the texture it offers?

 

I'd play around with adding 1/4 or 1/2 cup of almond meal to regular cake recipes to see how it changes thing. A bit of almond meal in a pie crust can be nice.It can work in streusel toppings. Anyway, whatever you make with it, I'd still freeze some for a rainy day.

[paulraphael]

I'd also be happy to have a couple of bags of almond flour in the freezer.

[Mjx]

Some suggestions, here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143300-almond-meal-in-cakes-and-baking/

[jmacnaughtan]

Tons of financier batter. You can freeze it for a pretty long time. It can make everything from traditional financiers to cupcakes to full-size cakes. You can scoop it or pipe it.

Also handy if you've been accumulating egg whites in the freezer. And if you like seriously delicious things.

 

Baked financiers freeze very well too.

 

Also good to use up almond flour:

 

Dacquoise

Frangipane (for tarts, pithiviers, and many other things...)

Tuiles (with a couple of silica gel packets, these keep for a few days)

Joconde (for opéra cakes and others)

Amaretti

Pain de Gênes

Crumble/Streusel

Sablé biscuits

 

And of course, macarons.  Make them, fill them, freeze them, sell them for lots of money.  You have no idea of the profit margin on those little suckers.

 

The list goes on.  A very good product to have too much of.

Edited April 1, 2014 by jmacnaughtan (log)

[Franci]

Does the almond meal still retain its full flavor?

 

It is tasteless.

Maybe I'll use it to add to a crumble. But that's about it, in my opinion.

[HungryC]

Huh--if its been used to make almond milk and is mostly tasteless, I'd be tempted to donate it to a nearby community garden's compost heap.  Just because it's left over and a gift doesn't mean YOU have to use it.  

[Matthew Kirshner]

you can always send some my way if you need to get rid of a few pounds, lol!!  I would make a ton of almond cream and use the rest for cookies.

[Alex]

An ArtPrize sculpture!

 

But seriously, as an occasional beneficiary of Tory's baking skills (also see here), I'd like to thank in advance all the suggestioners (suggestioneers?).

[Kerry Beal]

I'd second the marzipan/almond paste idea.  The texture will be there and you can add a bit of bitter almond oil to compensate for the missing flavour.  

 

With the paste you can make frangipane filling for tarts that you can top with pear or apricot, Bakewell tarts, fill danish (or nice big Kringles) or stuff dried fruit.  

 

The River Cafe dessert books have a huge number of fabulous recipes for various pastry items - all calling for lots of expensive almond flour!

[Lisa Shock]

I also like the marzipan idea. You could even begin wholesaling it to other bakeries. If you have a culinary school nearby, perhaps they'd be interested particularly for teaching the making of decorations. You might also do well to contact your local ACF or ICES group and see if anyone there would be interested. Retail pricing is about $50 for a #10 can, plus shipping for those who cannot purchase from a local food wholesaler. (My local ACF group has a culinary salon every year and marzipan showpieces are a category. I'd enter more often if the cost were lower.)

[Alex]

If you have a culinary school nearby, perhaps they'd be interested particularly for teaching the making of decorations.

 

This would be the person to contact (you might know him already). And donations can be itemized as a tax deduction (I've done it with cookbooks).

[jmacnaughtan]

Huh--if its been used to make almond milk and is mostly tasteless, I'd be tempted to donate it to a nearby community garden's compost heap.  Just because it's left over and a gift doesn't mean YOU have to use it.  

 

Just because there's not a lot of almond flavor doesn't mean it's not useful.  It's good as a "structural" ingredient, making things lighter than they would be with, for example, flour.

[TheStarvingArtist]

Someone else added the no-flavor comment...   MY almond meal still tastes just fine

And I've got the financier batter in the fridge! Though I don't quite feel like jumping on the macaron bandwagon yet....

 

And thanks, Alex! You're most kind Hope to see you at dinner sometime soon!

[AnythingButPlainChocolate]

Bakewell tarts