Roasted Almonds

Roasted almonds are almonds taken well past raw: dry, snapping crunch, a smell like warm marzipan, and a flavour that is browner and sweeter than a raw almond. Closer to the toasted almonds on top of a festive cake than to the soft pale ones in a bag of trail mix.

The roast is the difference. Heat drives off moisture and browns the natural sugars, so these come out harder, louder to bite and far more aromatic than raw almonds, and they are ready to eat or chop straight from the bag with no toasting step of your own.

How to use them

Sliver them over Kabuli pulao and qabili, or press them into baklava, sheer payra, halwa, firni and Nowruz sweets. Chop them through cakes, biscotti and granola, scatter them over roasted vegetables and rice, or serve them whole with dried fruit on a cheese board. Technique tip: they are already roasted, so add them at the end of cooking or in the last few minutes of baking, otherwise they taste scorched.

Details

Also known as

Toasted almonds, Roasted almond kernels, Badam, Badaam, Amandes grillees (French), Almendras tostadas (Spanish), Mandeln (German)