Spanish sweets (turron)

Spanish sweets (turron)

Spain is the homeland of delicious desserts and sweets. The favorite dessert of the local people, which has long become popular outside the country – the almond sweet called “turron”.

The delicacy has a nice story. In the XI century Alicante was ruled by King Ali. He married the beautiful princess Ilda from the Nordic country, where it was always snowing. They fell in love with each other, but the young princess has terrible homesick, which worried her husband. Once, walking through the large garden with almond trees, Ilda realized that the white leaves of the trees remind her of snow in her home country. When she told her husband about it, he ordered to plant the almond trees throughout the kingdom so that the princess feels at home. The princess was very happy. But, unfortunately, the trees couldn’t blossom all year long. After much consideration, the king ordered the bakers of Gijon to create the sweet with almonds, as his wife loved sweets. He decided that it will make her feel a little better until the almond trees can blossom again. The bakers invented the excellent treat, which was loved not only by the princess, but also by all residents of the Kingdom. This sweet was served every day and called “turron”, which means “nougat”.

Even after centuries, the residents of Gijon carefully save the recipe of turron. There are two main kinds of this sweet – soft (“blando”) and crunchy (“Alicante”) turron, but various confectioners in different regions of Spain and world offer their own recipes of turron.

Classic recipe of turron:

Ingredients:

– 500 g of almonds;

– 400 g of honey;

– 250 g of sugar;

– 4 eggs.

For 5-6 servings

Preparation:

1. Fry 400 g of almonds in the dry pan, then grind them in a blender or meat mincer to get the large cereal. Leave several almonds for later.
2. Separate 4 whites from the yolks and mix them until you get the foam.
3. Put 400 g or honey in the pot on a low heat.
4. Pour 250 g of sugar into the boiling honey and brew a little, stirring.
5. Pour all the whites into the almond cereal and mix all.
6. Add the resulted mass to the sugar and honey, which must be still on fire.
7. Brew the mass another 5-10 minutes (the longer you do it, the thicker will be a turron). Put the whole almonds into the mass and mix them.
8. Take turron off the fire and let it cool a little.
9. Put it into the mold and put them in the fridge for a day.

The sweet freezes in a few hours (to obtain the consistency of Spanish turron, you need to wait one day). Enjoy your meal!