Almond Paste Recipes

Steps:

• Place almonds in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar, egg white, extract and salt; cover and process until smooth., Divide almond paste into 1/2-cup portions; place in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 1 month or freeze for up to 3 months.

Steps:

• Place the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan and bring to a strong boil. Place the almonds in the food processor and grind until coarse. Remove the boiling sugar from the heat and pour over the coarse almonds. Blend until smooth. This may take 10 minutes or more, depending on the strength of the food processor. Remember, food processors are not usually strong enough to yield the same consistency as the almond paste that you can buy. If your mixture is too thick and the food processor is straining, you can add a little Kirsch or simple syrup to the processor. Add the liquid slowly and stop when the processor is moving more freely. The quality of almond paste is determined by how smooth the consistency is.
• Wrap the almond paste in plastic wrap and allow it to cool. When you are ready to use it, knead in the butter. The butter makes it smooth and not so sticky.

Steps:

• Grind almonds in a blender. Thoroughly mix in confectioners sugar. Beat egg whites slightly, then stir into the almond mixture. Add almond extract or rosewater (see Cook's Note), using your hands to blend the heavy mixture.
• Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week or in the freezer up to 3 months.

Steps:

• Force blanched almonds through fine blade of food chopper 4x or whirl in electric blender. Add lemon juice.
• Cook water and sugar until candy thermometer registers 240*F or until a small amount of mixture dropped into cold water forms a soft ball. Add to ground almonds. Mix well. When cool enough to handle, knead until smooth. Cool.
• Pack in a jar, cover & store in refrigerator for at least 1 week to ripen. Makes about 2 pounds.
• NOTE: If almond paste is too stiff to handle after storage, place in top part of double boiler and heat over hot, NOT boiling, water until sufficiently soft to handle. Use in cookies, coffee cakes or in other pastries and desserts.

Steps:

• Place almonds and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a food processor; process to a meal-like consistency, scraping down the sides and over the bottom of the bowl as needed. Don't overprocess it--at this point, the mixture should still be crumbly, not paste-like.
• Add egg white and almond extract; process until it lumps together. If it remains crumbly, add more egg white, a few drops at a time.
• Use a silicone spatula to remove almond paste from the food processor. It not using it right away, wrap it in waxed paper and store in an airtight container to use within a few hours. Or, place the wrapped almond paste in a freezer bag and freeze for up to six months.

Steps:

• In a food processor, grind half the almonds until very fine. Remove and repeat with remaining almonds. Total ground nuts will yield 1-3/4 cups. Put all nuts and remaining ingredients in the food processor. Cover and process until a paste forms. Gather together and store, tightly sealed, in a plastic bag.