It is one of the desserts that can not miss on the tables of the Feasts: almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts, the crunchy is perfect as a meal accompanied by mandarins. And you can prepare at home in ten minutes. Try!
It is the classic dessert that is prepared in every part of Italy at the same time, the day before Christmas, as tradition dictates: the crispy, the amber-colored bar which contains almonds or other dried fruit in it and which it is impossible to resist, mouthful after bite. In Naples, the custom wants the crispy to have the shape of a basket which is then decorated with struffoli or other colored sugared almonds. In the rest of Italy it is cut in rectangles or lozenges and prepare with walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and pine nuts.
Just three ingredients for a load of taste and … calories!
Sugar, honey and dried fruit: these are the three magic ingredients that give life to an irresistible cake. Have you tried it too? Once you taste a piece of it, you'll never stop eating it. Be careful though, because the crunchy is very caloric: 100 g make more than 400 calories! Treat yourself to this dessert only a few days a year, so as not to make you feel guilty!
Honey. How to choose it.
The honey that is used for the preparation of the crunchy must have a delicate and almost neutral taste, not to overwhelm that of dried fruit. Hence the less aromatic ones, like the millefiori, the acacia, or those of the legumes, should be chosen. Avoid chestnut honey, too intense, or strawberry, too particular.
Our crunchy recipe with almonds
Ingredients
150 g of sugar
100 g acacia honey
350 g shelled almonds
1 whole lemon
oil to grease
Method
Blanch the shelled almonds in a pot with plenty of water for 3 minutes, then drain, leave to cool and peel with your fingers. Spread the almonds on a covered pan and toast them in the oven at 180 degrees for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put the sugar and honey in a saucepan and melt them until the mixture has reached 130 °. At this point add the almonds, mix well and let it cook everything up to the temperature of 170 °, no further because at that point the caramel would become bitter. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet covered with greaseproof baking paper and help yourself with this operation with a whole lemon, so that the scent remains on the crisp. Before the crisp solidifies completely, cut it into rectangles.
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