Almond Recipes For Almond Lovers!
That’s my special gift to you! Although I am always tinkering with almond recipes and almond flour, I owe the real impetus for writing a whole post about almonds and multiple almond-based recipes to Nuts.Com. I was inspired by Nuts.com’s “April Showers Bring May Flours” project to create a post sharing all the information about almond recipes. I thought to myself, boy, am I am the right person for this! In fact I only came across one good problem: Looking at the collection of almond recipes I developed in my long fulfilling years as a cookbook author and cooking demo instructor, I may be getting much more than I bargained for. Seriously: I could write a whole cookbook about almonds (who knows, maybe I will!). When it came time to select some of my recipes featuring almonds, I found it very hard to choose among all my babies. I am ending up with two baker’s dozens of dishes starring almonds, especially when you consider all the variations many of the following recipes include, you end up with many more: How exciting is that? And could be more NUTritious than Almonds?
I think Nuts.com was very inspired when they decided to devote some well-deserved quality time and space to the tiny and mighty almonds, and pass the bug on to me! My selection of recipes including almonds is quite eclectic, to reflect my own eclectic repertoire. All-Natural, that goes without saying. And not just Classic American Almond Recipes – in pancakes, muffins, cookies, breads, puddings; All Mediterranean Cuisines are represented in my Cookbooks, my EBooks and on my blog in recipes that does them proud: Moroccan, Italian, Indian, to name a few. One big happy almond family! I even give whole Cooking Demonstrations, with a full soup-to-nuts (haha!) menu on the theme of almonds! Go Almonds!
Moroccan Cuisine being my first and most enduring culinary love, I hope you indulge me if I start by mentioning Moroccans’ lifelong gastronomic love affair with almond recipes.
When it comes to Almond Recipes, it is only fair that Moroccan Cuisine should get undisputed pride of place.
We Moroccans and Sephardis of all persuasions are crazy about almonds, and use almonds in countless savory and sweet dishes, like Pastilla, Chicken and Lamb Tajine, even almond-stuffed fish dishes. Almonds in Morocco are definitely not just a snack! We grew up eating them anytime anywhere: We sit at low couches with our guests and crack them with nutcrackers; we stuff them in dates for healthy snacks and desserts, we bake with almonds, we cook with almonds, we make a wonderful spread with almonds. Not only because almonds are a NUTritional powerhouse, but because they are so delicious! Likewise, many Mediterranean countries bake with them: Take a look at my Italian Ricotta Almond Pie, my Semolina Almond Cake, my Baklava, my White Gazpacho, and so many more.
I am constantly developing recipes with almonds placed front and center.
Again, primarily because almonds as so nutritious and so delicious, but also, as importantly, because they come to the rescue in so many special needs cooking scenarios. Some examples: Passover desserts happily use almond flour made from ground almonds to replace the grain flour we can’t use during Passover week; Carb-conscious diners (like yours truly) greatly welcome the whole gamut of wonderful desserts which flour made from almonds allow them to enjoy. Almonds, almond milk and almond flour are a lifesaver to the Gluten-Free and Gluten-Restricted Community; I have several gluten-allergic family members, one of them my own grandson, and I am constantly tinkering with gluten-free pancakes, muffins and bread rolls made from almond flour.
Almond flour is easily made from grinding almonds, both blanched (for more delicate pastries) and whole (unpeeled, for breads, pancakes, muffins and more full-flavored baked goods), but you will be happy to hear that almond flour, both the kind obtained from blanched almonds and unpeeled almonds are becoming increasingly available at a reasonable price, right on Nuts.com’s site!
Here come some of my favorite almond recipes:
