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Caramel Almonds

Caramelized almonds are blanched almonds coated in butter and sugar, baked and then caramelized in a pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Caramel Almonds

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds and add them to a bowl with melted butter.

  2. Place the bowl on the back of the stove for 1 hour.

  3. Drain the nuts and spread them in a shallow pan.

  4. Cook the almonds in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 15 minutes.

Caramelize and cool

  1. In a frying pan, heat the sugar over medium heat until it turns liquid.

  2. Quickly add the browned almonds and stir for 30 seconds.

  3. Spread the almonds on a plate to cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main body, toasted nutty flavor and crunch once baked and coated.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the almonds take on flavor and brown more evenly.
Sugar
Melts and caramelizes to add sweetness, color and a crisp, glassy coating.

The step that matters

Melting the sugar until it turns liquid. Sugar goes from amber to burnt within seconds at medium heat, so it needs close attention. Adding the almonds quickly while the caramel is still fluid lets it coat them before it hardens.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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