Making Italian torrone candy is really simple, but it does take some time. Most of that time is spent standing over the fire stirring. But the lovely, nut-studded, exquisitely textured end result is worth it.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 40 |
| Yield: | 80 (1-inch) square pieces |
Ingredients
- 2 (8×10-inch) sheets wafer paper
- 3 cups roasted almonds
- 1 cup roasted pistachios
- 1 ⅓ cups honey
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line an 8×11-inch baking dish with plastic wrap, allowing ends to hang over the sides. Place 1 sheet wafer paper in the bottom of the lined dish. Place almonds and pistachios in a warm place to make them easier to mix in at the end.
- Pour honey into a heavy-bottomed pot. Add 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar; cook over low heat with a spatula, stirring constantly, until mixture turns from grainy to silky and smooth, about 30 minutes. Remove the pot from heat.
- Place egg whites and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk until whites form soft peaks, 3 to 4 minutes. Place the pot with honey mixture back on low heat. Gradually whisk 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into honey mixture; whisk in remaining egg whites in 3 more batches.
- Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, until mixture turns a brighter white and a ribbon of mixture on the surface does not immediately incorporate, about 40 minutes. You can add a few drops of mixture to a small bowl of ice cold water to test the consistency; ideally it should feel like soft clay.
- Whisk in lemon zest and vanilla. Add warm almonds and pistachios; stir to incorporate evenly. Transfer nougat mixture to the prepared baking dish; smooth the top with a clean, oiled spatula. Top nougat with remaining sheet wafer paper, shiny-side up. Lay plastic wrap over the top and press down evenly, tamping mixture down gently but firmly. Remove top plastic wrap.
- Allow nougat to sit at room temperature until cool, firm, and ready to cut, 1 or 2 hours.
- Lift the edges of overhanging plastic wrap to release nougat from the baking dish. Invert and remove plastic wrap from the bottom. Trim off the edges if plastic wrap is hard to remove. Cut torrone into 1-inch squares using a sharp serrated knife.
- If you don’t have wafer paper (edible rice paper), you can spray the plastic wrap with vegetable oil. Some people use cornstarch, but I’m not a fan.
Reviews
I tried making this twice. The first time came out brittle and the second soft like taffy. I think it all had to do with the honey syrup temperature, if there was a temperature in the recipe that would have helped. This was a waste of $50 of nice ingredients and next time I’m going to try the Claire Saffitz NYT recipe that has a video and temperatures.
Amazingly delicious. I ate way too much of it, and I didn’t feel sick with these wholesome ingredients. It takes forever, and completely worth it. Thank you so much for this wonderful ancient recipe, and the helpful instructional video.
You’ll need a deep pan, like a Dutch oven. Also, use a heat diffuser!
Following the recipe exactly, I was disappointed that I ended up with a very brown, and very hard (rock hard, like brittle) confection. The flavor was good. If I’d known it would come out like brittle, I would have spread it much thinner, so that I could break it up into pieces without a hammer (which is what I needed to use). It says low heat, but that doesn’t mean much, maybe temperatures needed to be checked along the way. From reading other reviews, there are apparently common pitfalls, and these are not addressed in the recipe at all. I still have no idea what went wrong. I can only assume my temperature was too high. Then again, it never got thick enough for the “ribbons” to last 5 seconds on the top of the liquid. No idea.
I made a half batch. I used pistachios, cashews and almonds that I toasted. Low heat, and touched my hands around the pan to see how warm it was. Not warm to touch, turn it up a little. Warm to touch, perfect. You may need to adjust your stove as we have a tiny stove and just a turn above low may be too hot, but low isn’t hot enough.
Perfection! Followed the instructions as written and it turned out beautifully! Before the pandemic when I traveled more, this was my favorite treat to bring back from Italy for my Italian mom. Now I can make it any time… can’t wait for her to try it! My husband said it’s the best he’s tasted. Thank you!!
Gorgeous!!! This makes the softer, chewier version of Torrone (more the consistency of salt water taffy). If you want the hard, more brittle kind, you need a different recipe. But I was pleased with this version! I cut into small squares and dipped some in good milk chocolate, some in good white chocolate, and the rest I wrapped plain in wax paper. I will definitely be giving these as gifts! I personally like the plain best, but the chocolate dipped are delicious, and do make a very special looking gift. Also, I love the orange flavored Torrone, so I used orange zest instead of lemon. Divine!
Terrible recipe! I’ve been baking & cooking from scratch professionally & at home for well over 50 years & can make anything. I normally love Chef John’s recipes & videos. I read & reread the recipe, watched the video five times, & always weigh my ingredients. I followed directions to a ‘t’. This mixture NEVER turned anywhere near “brighter white”. It also never he’d the ribbons & then just became darker & then became like hard candy upon setting! Why not provide people with a precise temperature to bring the mixture to before adding the warm nuts? That would be the professional thing to do! What a complete waste of my precious time & expensive ingredients!!
I grew up eating Torrone that my Italian grandfather had shipped from a deli in NYC to Georgia. I tried several recipes to find the one I like best and this is by far the best. It is more labor intensive — stirring the egg whites in the syrup for a very long time. But the flavor and texture is so much better than the versions that have you add the hot syrup to the egg whites. That can come out too gooey and may not set up. But with this recipe, it comes out great everytime.
Hi Everyone, So I’ve made this recipe 4 times now. Here is a summary of the four batches and what I have learned. The first time I made it, I followed Chef John’s directions exactly and the Torrone was perfection but a tiny bit stickier than I had hoped. It cut well however, and it didnt collapse or look melted, it held its height. (See picture). I used a very heavy bottom saucepan and BJs Wellesley Farms brand honey and I used the lowest setting on my smallest burner for the whole 30 minutes of the first stage and 40 minutes of the second stage. I had all of my ingredients and utensils ready at the beginning of the process. The second time I made it, I made a huge mistake and I added the vanilla and zest in the middle of the cook along with the egg whites. This was a terrible mistake – the cooked zest tasted awful in the finished Torrone and it changed the color darker. Also, I cooked the second stage for an extra 8-10 min to see if I could get it harder. The end result was a product that was so sticky rock hard that I couldn’t even get a knife through it. I threw it away. The third time I made it, I used a different type of honey (from Trader Joes). For some reason this batch thickened faster in the second stage to ribbons at only 25 min and I got nervous after the last “too hard batch” and I took it off early. This was also a disasterous move for me. The resulting Torrone never hardened. It tasted amazing but was a gooey, oozy mess. I kept it and we ate it like
Great recipe! Made this AS WRITTEN the first time. Came out delicious, but as others commented, the color was beige and not white as I had expected. Honey/sugar will carmelize if heated too fast, too hot so keep the flame LOW at all times. On the 2nd round, I substituted light corn syrup for the honey and beat 3 egg whites instead of 2. PERFECT! Nice light, bright torrone like I had expected. Both times I used a heavy cast iron Dutch oven, which on low keeps the heat even. And at the end, your utensils/pot have leftover hard sugar over everything. Filled the Dutch oven with water, put the utensils in and boiled everything for a few minutes. Easy cleanup!! I made these to give out as gifts. Cut into logs, wrapped in brown butcher paper, twine and holly decorations – perfect handmade gift! Enjoy and Buon Natale! ??
I made this to surprise my Italian mother for Christmas! It was so difficult/expensive to buy a box of her favorite torrone (individually wrapped in the fancy little boxes), that I decided to find a recipe and try and make it myself. I watched the video several times, read the comments, re-read the recipe, assembled the ingredients (including a life-time supply of edible paper) and got started yesterday. For the hardware — I used a big cast iron skillet placed over my smallest burner, and into that I placed a heavy-bottomed stock pot. As for going from “gritty and grainy to smooth and silky,” my honey/sugar mixture NEVER completely lost the sugar crystals, and I stirred it for well over 40 minutes until I just gave up and moved to the next step. Heat too low? I don’t know… Anyway I hand-whisked the egg whites and my two large eggs didn’t seem to produce the quantity of soft-peaked egg white that Chef John’s produced, though I definitely whipped them to soft peak stage. I incorporated them into the honey/sugar mixture a whiskful at a time, but like the other commenters, my color never turned the bright white Chef John’s did. I attributed it to my honey and kept stirring. At the 40 minute mark of this second round of stirring, I still wasn’t getting the trailing that would hold for as long as in the video… mine was like maybe 2 seconds. I started a stopwatch and kept stirring, and did a couple of cold-water tests to determine that I really was at the right stage
Get the sugar temperature to 300 F before adding egg whites. Recipe was ok not a fan of the honey taste, so I omitted some of the honey with corn syrup.
First Chef John recipe that failed me. I use a candy thermometer. It was suggested to take it to 260 degrees in the comments, so I tried that. What I got was a sticky, gooey tarball of very expensive nuts and honey. Degrees, please! Some of us don’t like to waste half the batch parceling into a cup of cold water.
I made this twice. 1st time I ended up with something like hard tack (didn’t throw away, just added cashews, eh). I know why it failed. I have a propane stove and it burns hot, usually I accommodate. 2nd time I used the suggestion of another reviewer and put my wide, heavy bottom, 6 qt pan on a cast iron skillet, placed this on my smallest burner. I noticed in Chef Jon’s video he never let it boil. A slow, low heat is what’s needed. Also when whipping my eggs, 2nd time I checked and they needed more whipping as the underneath was still liquid. After the eggs were added I stirred for 45 minutes, turned off flame and kept stirring another 5. Perfect!!! I made the Torrone My Onee and included candied orange peels, and apricots in addition to the recipe. Thank you Chef Jon! It was a challenge and worth it.
I plan to cook this dish in the future, adding a note from a different recipe to lessen the time/stirring required by about 40 minutes. Step 2: Cook honey-syrup to 290F (candy thermometer), then take off stove. Step 3: After formed soft peaks, slowly pour the syrup mixture (not egg whites) into the mixer on medium speed. Step 4: Ignore step 4. Set mixer to medium-high and beat mixture for 5 minutes until very thick, stiff, and shiny.
I love chef john and have made a large number of his recipes. He is great about telling you where you can sub out stuff – but other than that DO WHAT HE SAYS! I followed this recipe exactly as shown and stated, i used my heaviest pot (an open dutch oven) and cooked at the lowest temperature possible on my stove, and got straight up cardio stirring incessantly for 70 minutes. But it came out exactly as advertised – it turned white, set up beautifully and chewy and delicious… all great. My only flub was going off his playbook and using wax paper because i couldnt find wafer paper. If i had wafer paper my torrone would have been instagrammable, but the wax paper stuck like crazy and so my final product is not as beautiful as it should be. But you know what? It is so yummy and was so fun i am going to special order wafer paper so i can make this again and do a double batch because this is the kind of awesome that needs to be shared.
I just made this and boy, am I tired! Over an hour and a half of stirring and whisking can wear you out but it was sooo worth it! Wow! I watched the video and then read through the entire recipe and gathered/measured out all ingredients before starting. I only had 1-1/2 cups of almonds so I added cashews and more pistachios and it turned out beautifully.
OK, I made this and it came out exactly as promised. However, and this is important: I watched the video numerous times, then I read every comment, and from that I was able to avoid mistakes. Biggest secret, which I learned in the comments: you MUST use a heavy-bottomed pan. I used my soup pot, which has that heavy bottom. This was crucial. And accept the fact that this takes a while, and stir, stir, stir. The only result that was different than John’s was that, once I had added the egg whites, it reached the point of doneness in about half the time it took his. However, the ribbon test and water test both said I was there, I trusted that and added my warm nuts. For storage, I came up with the idea that worked best. I cut pieces of wax paper into smaller squares and wrapped each piece individually. Took a few minutes, but then I was able to put them all in a large tupperware container (a zip lock bag would also work here) and they stayed fresh and perfect for the entire week it took for us to eat them all. Plus, I could put a handful of them out with the other Christmas cookies, and they looked kinda neat wrapped in wax paper.
Amazing !! Everyone showered me with compliments , I love attention!
I made this last year and it turned out perfectly. I didn’t use the rice wafer as my Mom is a celiac and couldn’t confirm it was safe for her. Still worked without it.