Smoked Almonds

[ratman]

Sweet Oak Smoked Almonds

Recipe -
250g Almonds (with skins)
40g Salted butter
4 tsp Granulated sugar
1 tsp Table salt

Method.
Melt the butter in a pan and remove from heat. Add the almonds coating them with the melted butter thoroughly. Spread the almonds on a baking tray and place in a pre-heated oven (180C / 350F Gas mark 4) for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a sealable container and add the salt and sugar mix. Seal the container and shake until mixed. Open the container and allow the contents to cool thoroughly. It may be necessary to mix everything together with a spoon as some of the mix can become stuck on the bottom of the container.

The almonds are now ready for smoking. Transfer them onto a baking tray, or if you have one, use a fine wire mesh tray, and place in the coldsmoker. Cold smoke the almonds for 4 hours over oak or beech. If hot smoking the Almonds place them in a foil basket or perforated tray and hotsmoke for 5 minutes. Transfer the smoked almonds back to the sealable container and give them another shake. They are now ready to bag up or even eat. These make a sophisticated treat for any occasion.

The end result and really delicious

[GUS]

That's one for the week-end! ..looks like i'm raiding the baking cupboard, looking delicious.

[ratman]

Trust me Gus they are out of this world mate. I cold smoked them and the result was fantastic. I have done so many now for friends and family, once they tried them they just keep asking for more

[wheels]

Great recipe - one to try.

Phil

[ratman]

Can thoroughly recommend them mate, I forgot to say that all I use to put them on for smoking is a wire mesh frying pan splash guard, works a treat

[GUS]

Thanks for the tip on the spatter guard, seems cheap & ideal, would be good to have a forum list of ad-hoc bits n' bobs that save buying exensive "specialist gear"

on that front, I did notice on wilko's website they were doing bbq replacement racks for around the £5.95 mark & am wondering as to material to stock for future use (end of brit bbq season sell off).

[GUS]

Went to Lidl for some VERY creamy fresh loose weigh Almonds yesterday in order to make up some GORP (good ole peanuts & raisins) trail mix for the daughter.

(as the almonds were flaked when I looked).
So we are making Ratman's recipe this weekend on a mini gas burner to emulate camp conditions & use either on their own & also as the key ingredient for a seed & fruit mix.


Having thrust a handful of plain nuts in her direction, she is keen to try this out, "perhaps" because she has been asked to do a recipe for outdoor cooking related stuff for uk scouting magazine, not much time, with the seesaw balance ideal that it needs to be simple & encompass a possible age range of 5 - adult!

we are going to run down a few simple recipes but something that could be smoked would be a fun inclusion, after all you should come home smelling a bit campfire-y even if you haven't actually kit one!

off topic.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received, just bear in mind many "normal" folk don't have a "batcave" of ingredients, ..on a different note it looks likely we'll be getting the kids to design hack job cardboard box smokers in teams after xmas, with the best to be used for a cheese smoke.

[GUS]

Did some, as no specific sugar was mentioned we opted for a demarera, about to put some into the smoker now.

One thing, if bought pre-salted (as ours were from lidl) we only used 3g of salt & unsalted butter as the 1st lot were too salty for us, however this may change once popped into the smoker.

>>& easy enough for a cub scout to do

[wheels]

...Any suggestions would be gratefully received, just bear in mind many "normal" folk don't have a "batcave" of ingredients, ..on a different note it looks likely we'll be getting the kids to design hack job cardboard box smokers in teams after xmas, with the best to be used for a cheese smoke.

Hot smoking in a biscuit tin. Maybe mackerel fillets or the like.

[GUS]

cheers wheels, will look into it, however I think that's best made as a project for camp (2-3 day duration) ..there's so much H&S involved i'm afraid common sense through experience is long past, perhaps explaining such a phlanx of "crisis kids" as we've always called em.

If I start with a lump o edam it's somethng they can plan to build out of recycled crud, then light themselves & I can take home to finish off, perhaps even risk the wee mites vacuum sealing their cheese?

cub meetings are only 1.5hrs per week so planning is key.

Back to almonds, got some more (unsalted this time to play with, & going to use a fine caster sugar / make a caramel.

[ratman]

I use plain granulated sugar

[GUS]

Hey Ratman,
Hope you don't mind I purloined your picture of the almonds for my daughters cub website where we've been pushing trail mix & almonds, needed a picture & we'd eaten our almonds!
kids n food, gotta try haven't you!