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croccanto
Croccante/ Almond Crisp-Tart (almond brittle with table sugar)
Originated from: Italy
Occasion: Special times
Contributed by: Taken from "The Italian Cook Book" by Maria Gentile (The Italian Book Co., 1919)

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Ingredients

Sweet almonds, four and a half ounces
Granulated sugar, three and a half ounces



Directions

"Skin the almonds, divide the two parts and cut each part into small pieces. Put these almonds so cut at the fire and dry them until they take a yellowish color, but do not toast.



Meanwhile put the sugar on the fire in a saucepan and, when it is perfect melted, pour the almonds hot and already slightly browned.



Now lower the fire and be careful not to allow the compound to be overdone. The precise point is known when the mixture acquires a cinnamon color.



Then pour little by little in a cold mold, previously greased with butter or oil. Press with a lemon against the walls of the mold, making the mixture as thin as possible. Remove from the mold when perfectly cooled and, if it is difficult to do so, dip the mold in boiling water. The almonds can also be dried in the sun and chopped fine, adding a small piece of butter when they are n the sugar."


Notes

This recipe was taken from "The Italian Cook Book: the Art of Eating Well, Practical Recipes of the Italian Cuisine" by Mrs. Maria Gentile. It was published in the U.S. in 1919. For the entire copyright-free cookbook see www.archive.org........P.S. I tried this recipe and was shocked to discover this is Not a tart but an almond nougat or more precisely, an almond brittle. Mrs. Gentile describes it as a tart but the recipe follows The standard Italian method of presenting clusters of sugared almond nuts. For those who would like to try making almond nougats but are worried they are too difficult to do, they should try out Mrs. Gentile's recipe. Her directions are very clear, making this recipe easy to do. Obviously, one does not have to manually peel the skin of the almonds as blanched nuts are readily available. In any case, the end result is quite delightful.... Notes: Mary Melfi.

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