• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

CooksInfo

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Food Calendar
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Food Calendar
×
You are here: Home / Nuts / Almonds / Almond Paste

Almond Paste

This page first published: Oct 12, 2003 · Updated: Jun 10, 2018 · by CooksInfo. Copyright © 2021 · This web site may contain affiliate links · This web site generates income via ads · Information on this site is copyrighted. Taking whole pages for your website is theft and will be DCMA'd. See re-use information.
To make almond paste, sugar is added to blanched, ground almonds, and then some kind of a syrup liquid such as glycerine, glucose or corn syrup. Almond extract is sometimes added to enhance flavour. The final product is a thick, somewhat sticky substance. And, needless to say, sweet.

Almond paste is somewhere in the middle between almond butter and marzipan. Almond butter is usually unsweetened and oily like peanut butter, and not as thick as almond paste. Marzipan is basically more finely-ground almond paste with more sugar (about twice as much) and sometimes egg whites. It is much drier than almond paste so that you can roll it out, which you definitely couldn’t with almond paste. Almond paste tastes more “almondy” than marzipan, simply because the ratio of almonds to sugar is higher in the paste.

Almond paste is sold premade at most stores, for use in decorating desserts and in making some baked goods. Some commercial almond paste also contains ground apricot kernels (heated first to make them safe.)

Cooking Tips

There are many recipes to make your own if you get stuck and can’t get to a store. Some call for egg whites, (which I’m a bit nervous about if I need to store the almond paste for any length of time, or use it on top of a baked good that will be unrefrigerated). The following procedure is a bit unorthodox in calling for the lemon juice, but is quite good (you want completely orthodox, make the schlep to the store). Whiz 1 cup of blanched almonds in a food processor or blender until very finely ground (or start with 1 1/8th cup of ground almonds). Then add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 cup of sugar, whiz till combined. Best made a day or two ahead of time; if desired you can enhance flavour with a bit of almond extract. If you need to double or triple the recipe, it may be best to make it in separate batches.

Substitutes

Another nut paste. Marzipan, surprisingly, is not a good substitute.

Equivalents

8 oz almond paste = 1 3/4 cups

Storage Hints

After opening the tube or can of almond paste, store refrigerated in a sealed container for up to a year (some say two years.) If you have any cheesecloth to hand, a slightly-dampened piece of it on top the paste can help to keep it soft. If it does harden during storage, zap for 2 or 3 seconds in the microwave on high to soften.

Language Notes

In Sicily, it is called “pasta reale”, meaning “royal dough.”

Primary Sidebar

Search

Home canning resources

Vist our satellite site Healthy Canning for Home Food Preservation Advice

www.hotairfrying.com

Visit our Hot Air Frying Site

Random Quote

‘Grilling, broiling, barbecuing — whatever you want to call it — is an art, not just a matter of building a pyre and throwing on a piece of meat as a sacrifice to the gods of the stomach.’ — James Beard (5 May 1903 – 21 January 1985)

Food Calendar

food-calendar-icon
What happens when in the world of food.

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe for updates on new content added.

Footer

Copyright © 2021 · Copyright & Reprint · Privacy · Terms of use ·Foodie Pro ·
Funding to enable continued research and updating on this web site comes via ads and some affiliate links