Croccante: Italian Almond Candy Made into Tart Molds

Croquant is a French almond-caramelized sugar and lovely crispy confection that is eaten by itself or used in all sorts of sweet applications. Croquant is simply a mixture of almonds and sugar. I use chopped almonds for this, and this is different from the common almond brittle you see with sliced almonds served as a candy. Croquant is a work horse in the pastry kitchen as the finished product can be ground up and chopped for dusting, sprinkling, coating, etc, any number of desserts and cakes.

The Italian version, croccante, and often is made with whole almonds. This recipe is from the 1919 cookbook The Italian Cook Book: The Art of Eating Well by Mrs. Maria Gentile, and the author uses croccante to make tart molds. It begins with whole unskinned almonds.

The almonds, after they are skinned, chopped, and dried in the oven (to a lightly toasted color, not deeply browned), they are added to caramelized sugar before the confection is poured into oiled tart molds and pressed down for a thin even layer.

Crisp sweet almonds within a base of caramelized sugar – croccant would make amazing tart shells indeed.

Croccante (Almond Crisp-Tart) Original Recipe

Ingredients:

• Sweet almonds, four and a half ounces
• Granulated sugar, three and a half ounces

Procedure:

• Skin the almonds, divide the two parts and cut each part into small pieces. Put these almonds so cut at the fire and dry them until they take a yellowish color, but do not toast. Meanwhile put the sugar on the fire in a saucepan and, when it is perfectly melted, pour the almonds hot and already slightly browned. Now lower the fire and be careful not to allow the compound to be overdone. The precise point is known when the  mixture acquires a cinnamon color. Then pour little by little into a cold mold, previously greased with butter or oil. Press with a lemon against the walls of the mold, making the mixture as thin as possible. Remove from the mold when perfectly cooled, and if it is difficult to do so, dip the mold in boiling water.
• The almonds can also be dried in the sun and chopped fine, adding a small piece of butter when they are in the sugar.

Croccante (Italian Almond Candy Tart Crust)

Renee Shelton

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RECIPE TAG: candy, pie crust

Ingredients

  

• 4.5 ounces whole almonds
• 3.5 ounces granulated sugar

Instructions

 

• Skin almonds, and chop fine
• Place in a preheated 350 degree oven until dried, but not deeply browned; keep warm.
• Add the sugar to a heavy bottomed saucepan over moderate heat and melt, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Reduce heat to low, add in the warmed almonds. Stir to combine.
• Pour croccante into oiled heatproof tart molds for tart crusts and swirl or press creating an even layer (protecting hands if need to), or pour mixture in an even layer onto a parchment or silpat lined sheet pan. Let set until cooled, unmold or break into pieces.

Notes

If pouring the croccante onto a sheet pan, it can be up chopped when cooled and used for all types of dessert decoration and garnish, both internal and external.

Store in a airtight container.