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You can add almonds to your Christmas desserts or roast them, lightly salt or flavour them, depending on your preference. Almonds are also an excellent gifting option for your dear ones for Christmas. You can customize it as per their taste as well.
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Pancake cupcakes with maple orange butter: Preheat the oven to 180⁰ c. Grease a muffin or cupcake tray with some oil or butter. Whisk together 200 g flour, a pinch of baking powder, a pinch of baking soda, 1 cup Almond milk/Coconut milk, 1 cup melted butter, 1 tbsp vanilla essence, a pinch of clove powder, to make a thick batter. Pour the batter into cupcake moulds. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack for an hour. For the butter glaze, melt 3 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp orange juice and 1 tbsp maple syrup. Add 1/2 cup condensed milk and reduce for 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle over the cupcakes and serve.
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Cocoa & coconut dusted almonds: Sift 4 tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tbsp desiccated coconut and 4 tbsp cocoa powder together and set aside. In a large skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat and quickly toast the almonds for two minutes, then put aside in a plate lined with paper towel and allow to cool for 30 second. In a large mixing bowl, toss the almonds with the coconut/cocoa mixture and spread out on a large sheet pan to thoroughly cool. Serve right away or reserve for a snack. For a simple, delicious and easy tart shell or even a basic cookie, grind up the cocoa and coconut dusted almonds into a flour, together in a mixer with butter, sugar, an egg yolk and a little water. Then roll out between two pieces of wax paper and bake. Your tart crust is ready. Try filling the tart with a simple chocolate ganache and serve with homemade ice cream.
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Almonds with dark chocolate and orange: Put 120 g almonds onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper. Using a sharp knife, shred peel of one orange finely. Put it into a saucepan with 2 tsp caster sugar and 3 tbsp water. Heat to dissolve the sugar, then simmer gently to cook the orange peel until soft (about 2-3 minutes). By this time the water will have evaporated. Cool. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir, then drizzle over the almonds. Scatter the shreds of orange peel on top and leave until the chocolate has set. Serve. Add a handful of raisins or sultanas to the almonds, if you like.
