For delicate cakes, tarts, and pastries where you don’t want to overshadow the other tastes, almond paste made with blanched, untoasted almonds works best.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 10 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 1/2 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole blanched almonds
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large fresh egg white, at room temperature, lightly beaten, or more as needed
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- 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.
- It’s important to note that almond paste requires whole almonds. Using almond meal or almond flour won’t give you the same slightly coarse texture.
- You can use toasted blanched almonds in place of untoasted, if desired. Toasting the almonds gives the almond paste a nuttier flavor.
- Most almond paste recipes call for egg whites. Because the almond paste is generally used for baking, the risk of salmonella contamination is low, as the hot oven temperatures kill the salmonella bacteria.