How to make homemade hard almond nougat

If you are a lover of good nougat, you love baking and DIY tutorials or, what is the same, do it yourself, we propose you to make a great homemade hard almond nougat to surprise family and friends.

At Casa Mira we want to share some tricks of our hard almond nougat recipe with you, although, just like the famous secret recipe of Coca-Cola, we also prefer to keep some little secrets that have made us one of the references in the elaboration of nougat in Spain.

You don’t need too many ingredients, just a lot of love and a little patience in the preparation. The secret lies basically in having a good raw material. We use for the elaboration of the almond nougat an almond of the Marcona type, which is typical of the Alicante nougat; and a good beekeeper’s honey. If you cannot have these ingredients, make sure that the almonds are of the best quality, as well as the honey, so we recommend you, if you want the effort of making the nougat to be worthwhile, to avoid using industrial honey.

The difference between soft nougat and hard nougat lies in the addition of egg white in the latter, which is what gives it that whitish color. If you want to know more about the different types of nougat we tell you in this post.

It is also important to know that the nougat will be more or less hard depending on the amount of egg white added and the degree to which the caramel is toasted.

The trick is to do it little by little.

Recipe of hard almond nougat

• 250 gr of raw almonds without skin
• 200 gr of good quality honey
• 150 gr sugar
• 1 egg white
• Wafers (optional)
• Nougat mold

Preparation

1. Toast the whole almonds in the oven at 180ºC for about 15 minutes, or in a previously greased frying pan. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon so that they are toasted all over equally. Remove and let them cool.
2. Whip the egg white with the egg whisk without making it too stiff, and set aside.
3. In a saucepan with enough depth, put the honey over medium heat until it begins to boil. Then, gradually add the sugar, stirring constantly with a spoon until a caramel texture and color is obtained.
4. When the mixture starts to bubble, leave it for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Immediately add the egg white slowly or in several times. The important thing is that the egg white is well integrated into the mixture without curdling or forming lumps. Once incorporated, we return to the very low heat, and continue stirring so that the mixture begins to thicken.
5. The mixture should reach the texture of caramel or until the caramel breaks, then incorporate the almonds. Remove the pan from the heat. You must stir vigorously in order to integrate the almonds into the paste.
6. Finally, pour the mixture into a nougat mold that you have previously covered with baking paper, or with a wafer. Smooth the surface and press to compact the paste so that it is well distributed throughout the mold, and let it cool.
7. You will have to wait a day at room temperature so that the nougat is ready to show off on your table and you can boast of being a great master nougat maker.

If you don’t get it right the first time, don’t despair, you can try again. We are sure that with practice you will get a great almond nougat and, if not, you can always come to Casa Mira and take an Alicante nougat with centuries of tradition.