[ITJB Challenge] Week 4 - Reading FAIL Almond Horn Version (Errata?)
I'm not dead, it just feels that way. I spent the holidays either travelling or cooking for New Year's, so didn't get around to the challenge until 2012. I made a fatal error, as well, relying on memory instead of looking at the schedule. Thus, we have Almond Horns instead of Almond Buns.
Let me start by saying that I think there's an error in the Almond Horn recipe in that it calls for zero flour. Without flour, as written, it makes a soupy, almondy-eggy batter. I ended up adding 1.25 cups of AP, and it was still flat and runny. If it's not an error, then the egg weights are too high or something.
These ended up tasting fabulous -- but they are more like flat almond sugar cookies than anything else.
I'll work the actual challenge -- almond buns -- into the schedule this month hopefully. :)
Comments
I haven't made that recipe, but I recall reading that the almond horns are supposed to air dry before baking I think.
I let them sit as advised, and they did nothing but continue to spread. The problem is that it never made an actual dough -- it was a batter. I keep coming back to the fact that there is no flour in the recipe and wondering if it's another misprint.
They have three ingredients - almond paste, sugar and egg whites, and yes, the dough/batter is sticky, runny and not kneadable; that's why you drop the batter directly onto the sliced almonds and roll -- so that your hands never come into direct contact with the batter. Egg wash and air dry them for a good half-hour before baking, then brush them with apricot simple syrup after they come out of the oven and let them cool and harden for a couple of hours before taking them off the parchment. This is a cookie/pastry, not a bread and they're ambrosial when you dip the ends in melted chocolate.
Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com
www.insidethejewishbakery.com
Thanks for the clarification! I'll try again when it rolls around for real.
this is one recipe that I know I have to try! I love almonds and if they taste even better dipped in chocolate so be it!
I remember thinking when I read the book that it sounded very runny and sticky but hey, so do a lot of things I've made, and they turned out, maybe loydb's problem was not the recipe but the weather, it would make a difference if it was humid, as things made with eggs tend to be more difficult when its humid, merangues, maccaroons, and Madelaines that I know of.