Shaped almond-based garnish/ornamentation/topping

[jedovaty]

Good morning!

 

Long story short: I am doing a spin off the coconut/chocolate/almond candy (almond joy), and trying to create a specific shape out of the almond.  My hands are cramped after a couple dozen failed attempts whittling roasted almonds, so now I'd like to try a different approach, and instead, create some kind of sub-candy or cookie with roasted almonds that I can put into a mold or use a mini cookie cutter.  I'm fairly new to sweets, my knowledge in this area is pretty slim.  Some ideas so far, I don't like any, but it might help turn some gears:

1. dusting almond over a stencil, but that's not enough almond nor crunchy enough

2. almond brittle, but that's too hard and sweet, I'd like it more of a soft crunch, and bringing the almond flavor forward

3. meringue with almonds (sort of macaron-ish), however, weather has been humid and raining here, and I'm ending up with a gooey mess instead of that soft crunch

 

In addition to having almond-forward taste and soft crunch texture, it'd be fun to explore something modernish - I have a accumulated a few tools and ingredients not customarily found in homes.

 

There are dietary considerations I will have to account for, however, no need to worry about that now, I am just looking for ideas and a place to take it from there

 

Thank you for your time in reading!

[Lisa Shock]

You can make an almond cookie by using a peanut butter cookie recipe. Make the following changes:

 

Make sure to use real butter for crispness.

Use toasted almond butter instead of peanut butter, or toast some almonds and grind your own fresh almond butter. (raw isn't as flavorful)

Add a little almond extract to amp up the flavor.

Leave out any baking powder or baking soda, you don't want rising to affect your shape.

 

I have done this and used the cookie for a lot of applications, from a fat cookie, to wafer-thin disks used inside an entremet for crunch.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm confused why you wouldn't just put an almond on the top of the coconut filling like the almond joy does? Can you give us a picture of what you are trying to accomplish or what your attempts have resulted in?

[jedovaty]

Lisa: That's a neat idea, thanks.  I made peanut butter blossoms last weekend, first time ever.  They were super soft, I think because it had no flour or other starches, so I'll try adding some and see what happens.  I can use my indian wet grinder that I have to make a super smooth almond butter, but now I'm not sure I want to do that as that tends to result in a very runny product.

 

Kerry: primary: I need a specific shape for the almond portion, secondary, I'm not doing an exact replica, but rather a spin off of it.  I tried whittling the almonds by hand, but it's inefficient, painful, and my whittling skills are rather poor to begin with, my parents did not let me have knives as a kid :p.

 

[Kerry Beal]

53 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

Lisa: That's a neat idea, thanks.  I made peanut butter blossoms last weekend, first time ever.  They were super soft, I think because it had no flour or other starches, so I'll try adding some and see what happens.  I can use my indian wet grinder that I have to make a super smooth almond butter, but now I'm not sure I want to do that as that tends to result in a very runny product.

 

Kerry: primary: I need a specific shape for the almond portion, secondary, I'm not doing an exact replica, but rather a spin off of it.  I tried whittling the almonds by hand, but it's inefficient, painful, and my whittling skills are rather poor to begin with, my parents did not let me have knives as a kid :p.

 

Are you whittling into an almond shape? You can get some very tiny almonds and splitting them in half along their natural cleavage line usually works reasonably well.

[jedovaty]

Kerry: no, I'm trying to shape an almond into a number 1, complete with the foot and nose.  Part of an inside joke.

 

I'll be trying the cookie idea when I get home tonight, probably make the butter with the blender not the grinder (I don't have a food processor).

 

Another thought, I could try cutting a shape out of a sliced almond.  It's flat, but it'll be less work than whittling.  From here, there are more options (e.g. stack a few stuck with a drop of syrup, or go minimalist).

Edited February 8, 2017 by jedovaty (log)

[chromedome]

An almond tuile, maybe? Almond florentine? Either one would be relatively easy to cut during the brief interval after it comes out of the oven. 

[Kerry Beal]

Ok then - that's a little different than what I was picturing!

 

Cutting a number out of a whole almond might be a bit challenging so the cookie idea would work around that - but a cookie will soften under the influence of the coconut filling. Could you take some of the coconut filling, add a couple of drops of bitter almond oil and shape that into your number to put on top of the filling (if the shape is more important than the almond crunch)?

[pastrygirl]

Will it later be enrobed like an almond joy?  Can you cut slivered almonds and put them together on top of the coconut to form the numeral?  Slivered almonds are cut like a julienne, about 1/8" square by the length of an almond.

 

 

[Lisa Shock]

A cookie will stay crisp if it's enrobed in chocolate.

[Kerry Beal]

5 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

A cookie will stay crisp if it's enrobed in chocolate.

There would have to be chocolate all around the cookie - if the cookie is placed on top of the coconut filling it would soften.

[jmacnaughtan]

Try nougatine - it's pretty easy to work with, and you can coat it with cocoa butter to keep moisture getting to it.

 

ETA: Thinking about it, you could just save yourself a lot of time and effort by incorporating a touch of bitter almond extract into tempered white chocolate and use that.

Edited February 9, 2017 by jmacnaughtan (log)

[Lisa Shock]

or, find a #1 mold and pour in hot almond brittle.

[jedovaty]

Hi, and wow, thank you all for the ideas!  You all provided inspiration, thank you so much for helping someone new here!

 

I think we're getting close, after trying a few variations.  Long story short, the almond butter cookie didn't work for me, they were soft, no texture.  Also did not like adding almond extract, tasted more like marzipan than almond to me. 

 

While waiting for the almond butter cookie to cool, I remembered that my folks make various nut-based cookies during christmas.  The base recipe is similar to a pie crust, and instead of using the nut butter to make a cookie, you simply use ground nuts.  Made a small test batch, it worked well, gave me a "ritz cracker" like bite.  They did poof up and grow, even without baking soda/powder.

 

I have a few more tests I want to run, and then will follow up.  Thanks again

Edited February 10, 2017 by jedovaty (log)

[jedovaty]

My family's cookie recipe didn't work, I kept getting very pasty/dry/crumbly texture, and ultimately ended up using a failed macaron-type batter (using aqua faba instead of egg whites), and double-baking.. it's the only way to get a crispy/crunch, and they are at just point of burning (cookie tastes.. bold )

 

Also, I'm not so sure about the coconut filling, right texture but strange taste, almost sour.  I made a "dulce de coconut" (reduced coconut milk with coconut sugar for ~4 hours) and blitzed it with some coconut + powdered sugar.  To keep the cookie from getting soft, there's a thin layer of chocolate inbetween.

 

Almonds were slivered by hand, did the simple thing, after all this haha, sorry everyone.

 

The chocolate is too thick, and taste wise probably too much "bite" - it's my own roasted, 73%, I might nix that and go to the store bought stuff.  First time ever making dipped bonbon thingies.  Fun and messy haha.

 

I was afraid everything would be too sweet and cloying, as individual parts are, however, together it all just tastes "unique".  Hah.

 

Oh.. and in my first post I mentioned diet restrictions - they had to be gluten free and vegan, so this was extra challenging (I'm comfortable transcribing some recipes).  With the taste being not quite what I'm expecting, considering just abandoning this, and maybe making heart shaped chocolate chip cookies since I can now do those with my eyes closed.  Still a learning experience!

 

And for the record, I absolutely loathe silicon heart shaped molds now.  Stupid nooks and crannies take forever to clean out failed batches. 

[jedovaty]

Final follow up: turned out better than expected.  My palate must've been screwed up from all the sugar on Sunday, after an overnight rest, they tasted good.  Recipient thoroughly enjoyed it

 

Now I need to research other sweets with coconut or peanuts.  Something unusual.

 

Thank you all for the help!

[Logan Rivera]

On 2/8/2017 at 10:22 PM, Lisa Shock said:

You can make an almond cookie by using a peanut butter cookie recipe. Make the following changes:

 

Make sure to use real butter for crispness.

Use toasted almond butter instead of peanut butter, or toast some almonds and grind your own fresh almond butter. (raw isn't as flavorful)

Add a little almond extract to amp up the flavor.

Leave out any baking powder or baking soda, you don't want rising to affect your shape.

 

I have done this and used the cookie for a lot of applications, from a fat cookie, to wafer-thin disks used inside an entremet for crunch.

 

I haven't tried it out yet. After seeing this recipe, I think it's an easy cookie that can be prepared fast.