End of November, Christmas Markets pop up everywhere in Germany with the delicious scent of caramelized almonds. Everyone loves going there and getting some mulled wine, a paper cone of caramelized almonds, some “Schmalzgebäck” (I’ll get to that in another post) and other delicious foods.
The idea of caramelized nuts is probably not new to Americans, I often find some in my salads at restaurants. But this is still different and I am sure you will love these almonds. Of course, you can make this with other nuts, too.
How to make Caramelized Almonds
The almonds version is classic but you can also buy caramelized walnuts or peanuts etc.. When you buy them at a booth at the Christmas Market, they will be warm – that’s how they taste best and this way they also keep your hands warm!
The caramelized almonds are also sold at the Oktoberfest and they are always served in a paper bag that has the shape of a cone. I’ll show you how to make these bags, though the vendors don’t make them themselves anymore.
Wrapped in a nice paperbag, they also make a really great Christmas gift for teachers, neighbors, colleagues, … and a few seconds in the microwave make them warm again!
Warning: Caramelizes almonds are highly addictive – if you try one, you want to eat them all!
Here is how to make them and spread the scent of a German Christmas Market in your house – enjoy this delicious treat!
Caramelized Almonds - Gebrannte Mandeln
Ingredients
- 100 ml water
- 120 g sugar
- 140 g almonds
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet with a thin layer of oil and set aside.
- Use a large frying pan and add the water, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- Bring to a boil.
- Now, add the almonds and let boil while constantly stirring
- Let the water evaporate and keep stirring.
- The sugar starts to crystallize again but hang in there and stir, lower the heat a little.
- The almonds start to look dull and after some minutes start to become glossy again, once the sugar is melting.
- Stir until all almonds look glossy and are evenly covered with caramel. Be careful not to let them burn!
- Move the almonds from the pan to the baking sheet.
- Using two forks, pull the almonds a little appart.
- After about 5 minutes the almonds are cooled to a touch and you can break them appart with your hands.
- Add the almonds to a paper bag and enjoy!
Well that was a big “fail”. Standing in kitchen for over two hours and it “liquid” never caramelized. Nothing but a big mess and feeling exhausted.
Dear Christine,
I’m sorry you had a bad experience with my recipe. Since you are the first to report issues, I was wondering what might have happened so I went back to the kitchen with my recipe and I noticed that if you use the US measurements, it might have been confusing. Back when I wrote the recipe, the conversion function wasn’t avaialabe so I wrote this recipe for both systems. Now that the recipe plugin is updated with a conversion function, that might have been the problem. I wrote the recipe again, hopefully, this was the problem and is now solved. I’m sorry that you ran into this. Best,
Barbara
The recipe is perfect AND no egg whites. Thank you.
I was wondering if you have had any experience making the same type of almonds, the same way without egg whites, but with orange zest so they would be more, “Orange Spiced Almonds”.
Thank you.
John
I never heard of orange spiced almonds, sounds interesting though! I think you should try it the way you suggested.