If any of you have been to a bakery in Islamabad called Tehzeeb, you will all know about the Honey Nuggets they make. My in laws love these little honey nuggets. Crunchy and sweet, filled with pistachios and almonds. And seriously hard to bite. No joke. If you have sensitive teeth, then think twice before eating these. I decided to try making these because we couldn’t find them at the stores anymore. And as you know, homemade is always better!
So, this recipe is great, because it keeps well in a cool dry place, but be careful. They are seriously addictive. I must caution you all, please please please, keep your children in the other room while you make this. I burnt my arm quite badly due to a silly flick of my wrist. So please exercise caution.
In this recipe I only used almonds upon the request of my in laws and due to the fact that I couldn’t find any pistachios. This recipe is adaptable, replacing the almonds with cashews, pistachios, walnuts or even other dried fruits, like cranberries and raisins. They all work well in this recipe.
I recommend adding warm, toasted nuts to the syrup, otherwise the mixture will thicken way too quickly. Most likely before you can even move it to the greased pan.
Preparation time 10 minutes
Cook time 1 hour 15 minutes
Set time 2 hours
Yields 30 x 1-inch squares
Ingredients
1 ⅓ cup light colored honey
1 and 3 Tablespoons sugar
2 egg whites- room temperature
A pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
3 cups roasted almonds-warm
1 cup roasted pistachios- warm
Instructions
Line an 8×11 inch baking pan with foil. Spray liberally with butter or oil.
Keep your egg whites at room temperature, ready for quick whipping.
Place the honey in a heavy bottom pot. Add the sugar and stir on a low heat for around 30 minutes until smooth and silky. All the sugar should have dissolved into the honey. Remove the pot from the heat.
Put the egg whites in a clean and dry bowl. Whip until you get soft peaks, around 3-4 minutes.
Place the pot back on a low heat. Add a whiskful of the egg whites to the sugar mixture and whisk well until smooth. Add the rest of the egg whites in 3 additions.
Cook over a low heat and stir with a spatula until the mixture becomes a bright cream. Ribbons will form and a figure 8 will sit on top of the mix. This will take around 40 minutes.
Turn off the heat. Add the vanilla and warm nuts. Mix well until all the nuts are well coated.
Transfer the mixture to the greased baking pan. Even the top with an oiled spatula.
Allow the torrone to sit at room temperature for a few hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces.
Dust with icing sugar, making sure they are coated well.
This is a long recipe. It takes a while but it tastes so much better than the easy torrone recipe, which takes 15 minutes and includes dribbling the syrup into the egg whites, like a meringue).
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