making almond paste

I have seen a few recipes for almond paste, including the link provided by AntoniaJames and I want to try to make it myself. I do not have a food processor but do have a lb bag of almond meal/flour. Should I just figure out the weight of a cup of almonds ( do you think sliced or whole makes much difference?) and substitute in an equal weight of the almond meal? I made almond horns last night, probably my first foray in 30 years into cookie baking. . They came out really well and I would like to make again but that almond paste is expensive stuff.

caninechef
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8 Comments

caninechef
caninechef November 15, 2017
Thank you everyone for comments. AntoniaJames- I should have thought of that approach since I look at weight/nutritional panels all the time. I am sure now to remember it in the future. Half Pint -- thanks for reference to bobsredmill web site, it is indeed the product I purchased. 2 noticable differences is that the Bob's recipe uses powdered sugar while the AJ link uses regular(granular). The later also includes butter which I am a bit leery about since the almond horns are basically nothing but almond paste ( with a bit more sugar and another egg white) so I wonder if they would leak butter as they baked. It may be a while but I will report back on results.
 
Nancy
Nancy November 15, 2017
The butter in one recipe may make the paste richer or more maleable (sp?), but I would only use that in recipes that already have butter.
For your almond horn recipe, stick with a classic recipe (no butter).
FYI, from the kitchn, some info (neither with butter):
https://www.thekitchn.com/almond-paste-and-marzipan-what-46772
 
dinner A.
dinner A. November 14, 2017
The King Arthur website has a fairly comprehensive ingredient weight chart that should help you out: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
Their measurements indicate that whole almonds actually make a more dense cup than slivered, which themselves pack more densely than sliced. I would guess that almond paste tolerates a decent range of sugar/almond ratios, with your final recipe being somewhat more or less sweet of course.
 
HalfPint
HalfPint November 14, 2017
I would search for almond paste recipe made with almond meal. Here is one from Bob's Red Mill,
https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/almond-paste/

Disclaimer: I haven't tried this recipe, but Bob's has good quality products, so chances are good that the recipe is good too. Let us know what you do in any case :)
 
Stephanie B.
Stephanie B. November 14, 2017
Ah thanks for that blog post - I've been keeping an eye out for an almond paste recipe myself. Blanched, slivered almonds are pictured in the blog post, so your idea to work back from the weight of those sounds reasonable to me!
 
Stephanie B.
Stephanie B. November 14, 2017
I think the weight difference between one cup of whole almonds and one cup of sliced almonds could be a big difference - the whole almonds will take up a lot more space than sliced almonds. I don't see AntoniaJames' recipe, but if it lists a weight of almonds, I'd use that much almond flour.
 
caninechef
caninechef November 14, 2017
Unfortunately the recipe she links http://www.simplysogood.com/2013/07/my-favorite-almond-paste.html just says 2 cups blanched almonds which I would assume are whole. However AntoniaJames comments( all this happens in the comments on an almond scone recipe) that she used blanched slivered almonds. So the weight equivalent to strive for seems difficult to nail down. I did use the commercial product in this first attempt so I do have some idea of the consistence to strive for. I guess I can wing it until I have something similar to the purchased almond paste.
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames November 14, 2017
If you do a search on Google for "blanched slivered almonds nutrition information" and then click on the images tab in the search results, you can see a label on a bag of slivered almonds. In the US, both metric and US standard measures are required on food labels, so you can easily do a calculation by looking at that data. In the case of Trader Joe's slivered almonds (the ones I use), you can see that there are eight 1/4 cup servings - two cups- in the 8 ounce bag. (It also says that 1/4 cup = 30 grams; x8 is just a bit over 8 ounces.) That's what I used in the recipe linked and the almond paste turned out beautifully!

(I could have just told you that 2 cups of slivered almonds = 8 ounces, but then you wouldn't know how to figure it out yourself when a different set of circumstances present the same problem.) ;o)
 
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