Make your own almond croissants at home

One good thing about ‘making do’ is when the craving hits, you’re able to come up with a quick solution. This happened a little while ago when I was craving an almond croissant. I didn’t have croissants or frangipane to make them but I mentioned it to my husband and when he ducked into the supermarket, he picked up a packet of croissants. I just had to make this frangipane. It’s so easy to make your own almond croissants at home.

Don’t worry if you don’t have almond meal. Having almonds does help and I usually have a good supply of different nuts in my pantry. Grab a handful and blitz until coursely ground.

They should resemble cookie crumbs.

Mix half a cup of ground almonds with 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 4 tablespoons of softened butter and 1 beaten egg.

What you’ll get is a mixture similar to butter. This is what’s called ‘frangipane’ and makes a delicious filling for a baked pastry tart.

I didn’t make my croissants. I never have and knowing what goes into making them, I probably never will. There is a lot of rolling and folding and chilling pastry. It just wouldn’t be worth all that effort for my little family. My son and I ate these almond croissants but my daughter will only eat them plain or with cheese. The supermarket variety are quite alright and they freeze really well too.

Split the croissant lengthways and spread with the almond butter mixture (frangipane). 

Top with the other half of the croissant and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approximately 20 mins or until heated through.

Again, if you don’t have flaked almonds, it’s pretty easy to roughly chop slithers of almonds into flakes. They may not be as fine as the store bought ones but they do. You don’t have to worry about removing the skins either. I quite like the look and flavour of the skins on almonds.

Sprinkle the warm croissants with the flaked almonds and a lot of icing (powdered) sugar. Yum, yum! My craving was satisfied. Absolutely delicious.

Any leftover frangipane can be frozen until next time a craving hits.

I should count myself lucky that I don’t have a French patisserie near me as this is one French delight I’d always go for. Maybe not so lucky to have a lovely husband who will always pick up what I need (or crave) at the supermarket. Definitely one to try for a brunch or late breakfast.

Recipe

(Based on recipe from Kitchn)

• 1 cup dry roasted or raw almonds (or 1/2 cup almond meal)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 large egg, beaten
• croissants
• flaked almonds, for topping
• icing (powdered) sugar

1. If you don’t have almond meal, blitz whole almonds (with skins on if necessary) until they resemble biscuit crumbs.
2. Mix togehter 1/2 cup ground almonds with sugar, vanilla, butter and beaten egg.
3. Cut croissants in half lengthways and spread with almond butter mixture (frangipane).
4. Place top of croissant back on and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approximately 20 minutes or until heated through.
5. Top with flaked almonds and a lot of icing sugar.

Almond Roca (Toffee Almond) Fudge

The poor teachers at my children’s school were left in charge of my 9 year old son when he went on camp just recently and besides probably needing a stiff drink by the time they got back, I wanted to give them a little something for ‘looking after’ my son. Fudge is always an easy and delicious thing to make as a gift so I decided to turn the usual ingredients for Caramel Fudge into something a little special with this Almond Roca Toffee Almond Fudge.

If you’ve never tried Almond Roca before, it’s a crunchy toffee candy filled with roasted almonds and then smothered in chocolate and coated in more finely chopped roasted almonds. I didn’t want to bother with boiling sugar so made my easy caramel fudge recipe but took both the butter and the caramelising of the fudge mixture that bit further to get a darker more toffee flavoured fudge and it worked beautiful. The same taste as Almond Roca but with a fudge texture.

Get your pan ready by lining with baking paper.

Get all your ingredients ready. For the fudge, I used a can of condensed milk, brown sugar, white chocolate melts, butter and finely chopped roasted almonds.

Melt the butter and brown sugar but take the butter a little further until it is a golden brown colour.

Add the condensed milk and keep stirring until it has gone a dark brown colour. Don’t leave the stove for a second or else it will burn. It will need to be stirred continuously for about 10 minutes. You’ll know when it’s ready if you pop a bit of the mixture into a glass of water and it forms a ball. Be sure to get around all the edges of the saucepan or else parts will be darker than others. Add the white chocolate melts and chopped roasted almonds.

Pour into the baking pan lined with paper and allow to set. This should take an hour or so in the fridge. Leave overnight to be sure (but seriously, who can wait that long?)

Melt some milk or dark chocolate in the microwave and chop some more roasted almonds.

Pour the chocolate on top and sprinkle over the almonds. Press the almonds into the melted chocolate to they stay put. Allow for the chocolate to set.

And there you have it. This takes an ordinary caramel fudge to a new level. You could try it with any kind of nut like macadamia, pecan, walnuts, brazil or even peanuts.

I wrapped a couple pieces of fudge in cling film and popped them into these really cute pillow boxes. There are so many free printables for pillow boxes online but I found this one I really liked and you can download it for free here. The teachers were very happy with their little gift and assured me that my son was very well behaved (except for the time when he first got there and he was extremely home sick and ran and sat in a garden bed and the other time he decided he didn’t want to be any part of a game where his face was squirted with water).

Print

Almond Roca (Toffee Almond) Fudge

If you like the world famous Almond Roca candy you'll love this easy peasy fudge version. No need to work with hot sugar and worry about temperatures. This fudge is made in just under 30 minutes.

Author Anne

Ingredients

Fudge

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 395 gm can condensed milk
• 1 cup white chocolate melts or chopped
• 1/2 cup dry roasted almonds finely chopped

Topping

• 1 cup milk or dark chocolate melted
• 1/2 cup dry roasted almonds finely chopped

Instructions

1. In a heavy based saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar.
2. Melt the butter until it has gone a dark, golden colour.
3. Add the condensed milk and stir for approximately 10 minutes.
4. Be sure to stir in the edges of the saucepan and don't take your eyes off it.
5. Continue to stir until the mixture has turned dark brown in colour and if a bit of mixture is put into a glass of water, a firm ball is formed.
6. Add white chocolate and 1/2 cup chopped almonds.
7. Pour into a 9"x9" baking pan lined with baking paper.
8. Allow to cool in the fridge for approximately an hour or overnight.

Topping

1. Melt chocolate and spread over fudge.
2. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of chopped almonds.
3. Allow chocolate to set in the fridge.
4. Chop into pieces and serve.

Recipe Notes

Please note, this fudge will be a bit harder to cut than regular soft fudge.
Any nuts can be used to replace the almonds.

 

Orange, Spinach & Almond Salad

 

You’d think at this time of the year I’d be mad for wanting a salad. (I’m mad at any time of the year!) But I love fresh vegetables, winter is the perfect time for citrus in Australia and who doesn’t usually have nuts in the pantry to whip up this quick Orange, Spinach & Almond Salad.

What constitutes a salad anyway? Wikipedia says “a salad is a dish consisting of small pieces of food, which may be mixed with a sauce or salad dressing”. So whether that’s hot, cold, winter or summer, serving up an accompaniment to any meal that contains fresh vegetables, a zingy dressing and something with a bit of crunch sounds good to me.

The Navel oranges are just gorgeous at the moment, full of juice and a lovely deep orange colour, perfect for boosting the immune system when we’re all a little

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prone to catching whatever virus is doing the rounds in winter.

This salad literally took me all of 5 minutes to throw together. I served it alongside some grilled chicken breasts and it was just perfect. You could use any green. Think blanched broccoli, lettuce of any kind, beans, peas, kale etc. Citrus could be mandarin, lemon, grapefruit, blood orange and the nuts are whatever you have in the pantry, like walnuts, macadamia, peanuts, hazelnuts. Summer or winter, get your extra serve of vegies in this simple 3 ingredient salad.

Orange, Spinach & Almond Salad

• Baby spinach (or any other green vegetable)
• Orange segments (or any other citrus fruit)
• Almonds, toasted (or any other nuts)

 

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp honey

 

1. Arrange spinach, orange and almonds on a platter.
2. Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until well combined.
3. Pour over salad.

 

 

Flourless Orange & Almond Cookies

We were going to my not into cooking or baking sister’s place a couple of weekends ago and as always, she tries to get me to bake when I’m there. She must’ve got a lot of packets of ground almonds (almond flour) on special and seeing she has gone gluten free, I was up for the challenge to bake something suitable. I’m also trying to go gluten free when I can and I must admit I don’t feel anywhere near as bloated when I finish eating as I would when I ate foods that contain gluten.

These cookies were so easy and even more easy than a conventional cookie mix and oh so delicious. I guess they weren’t as crispy or crunchy but had a bit of firmness. The hint of orange was a perfect match with the ground almonds. My sister now bakes a batch of these every week and she’s made them with an almond pressed in the centre, some with choc chips and some with dried fruit. A really easy alternative to the standard cookie if you’re trying to cut back on gluten or flour products. (PS I hand wrote the recipe from something I googled on the internet and I can’t for the life of me remember the web site so if its your recipe, thank you very much and full credit goes to you.)

Flourless Orange & Almond Cookies

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs coconut oil
• 1/2 cup sugar (or Stevia)
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (or just vanilla extract)
• grated zest from 1 orange

1. Combine all ingredients until well mixed.
2. Place spoonfuls of mixture onto a lined baking tray (or roll into balls and press with a fork).
3. Bake in a 170 deg C oven until golden.
4. Allow to cool.
5. (I doubled the mixture which made about 24 cookies.)

Crunchy Almond Topped Strawberry & Apple Crumble

We were down to about 6 strawberries in the punnet that were starting to soften and 1 green apple in the fridge. I wasn’t sure if I’d use the strawberries in muffins or a cake but it was going to be a cool night so what better way than to use them up in a crumble. I didn’t peel the apple because I just loved the look of the red strawberries with the green of the Granny Smith apple but once cooked the apple skin fades, but it doesn’t alter the taste. I made the crunchy topping more like granola and it was really scrummy. Another good one for a cold night. (Note, what we call a ‘crumble’ here in Australia is called a ‘crisp’ in the USA.)

Crunchy Almond topped Strawberry & Apple Crumble

strawberries, cut in half
apples, diced in chunks
2 tbs lemon juice

Granola topping:
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup almonds, chopped finely
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tbs butter, melted

1. Combine fruit with lemon juice and put in an ovenproof dish.
2. Combine ingredients for topping and place on top of fruit.
3. Bake in a 180 deg C oven until fruit has softened and topping is golden (approx 15 mins).
4. Serve with ice cream or cream.

Note: absolutely any fruit could be used here and any nut in the topping.