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One of Spain’s most popular Christmas treats, turrón is an almond nougat made with almonds and honey. Today I’ll share my recipe for turrón de Alicante, the hard, white almond nougat.
This recipe has been in the long time making. Each year, I try out new recipes for turrón, and each year I am disappointed with the results. I have always ended up with a soft “hard” turrón (turrón de Alicante) and a hard “soft” turrón (turrón de Jijona).
You see, in Spain, the two most popular and characteristic turrones at Christmas time are the turrón de Alicante, the hard almond nougat, and the turrón de Jijona (another city in the province of Alicante), the soft almond nougat. Those were probably the original types of turrón, but truth be told, I’m not even certain what the real definition of turrón really is anymore. As the years go by, anything that is sold in a rectangular tablet at Christmas time in Spain seems to be called turrón, and it can be anything from a bar of chocolate with almonds or puffed rice, to even something as strange and exotic as mojito turrón.
I like to stick with the classic turrón varieties, though. Unfortunately, most of the recipes that can be found on the internet just don’t get them right. They don’t specify anything about temperatures or how long to cook the candy, and many post the same recipes with stock pictures, which makes me wonder if they even tried the recipe at all. In other cases, I’m guessing they tried it, it didn’t turn out as it should, and yet they posted it anyway. I mean if so many people have posted the same recipe, it must be good, right? Wrong! (I later noticed in the comments sections that everybody was having the very same problems with certain recipes, but nobody offered a solution!)
I’m a bit stubborn, and while other years I have given up while trying to come up with a good recipe for turrón, I never gave up entirely. This year, I tried out several new ways of making both types of turrón, and by combining certain ideas from different recipes, I have finally come up with a recipe that works for me (and hopefully for you) for making turrón de Alicante.
When I was younger, turrón de Alicante was my favorite type of turrón. Pre-internet days, it was impossible to find it in the US, so I stocked up on it any time I visited Spain or another Latin American country at Christmas time. One year, I visited my aunt who lives in Venezuela, and remember happily stocking up at it at a big supermarket. Sad to say, that same supermarket now only houses empty shelves amidst the crisis that the country now is suffering.
Watch me make Turrón de Alicante:
Whether you can buy it where or live or not, it is empowering in a way to be able to say that you successfully made your own turrón. My husband isn’t a big fan of almonds, but even he was happy to eat my homemade turrón, and he said he liked it better than the store bought varieties! Yay!
I tried several times to make something that tasted and looked like the real deal without using any refined sugar, but I have to say that it turned out closer to what you buy in the stores if you do use some sugar. I may have to try this same recipe next time with an organic demerara sugar to see if that changes things much. I imagine that it may darken the turron a bit more, and may slightly change the flavor. I’ll let you know if and when I try it. (Which, to be honest, may be next year because by now, after making several batches of both types of turrón, I’m kind up fed up with almond nougat.) 😉
I’m really happy with the way this recipe turned out, and super excited to share it with you.
Turrón de Alicante
Turron de Alicante Recipe (Spanish Hard Almond nougat)
Ingredients
- 200 g honey
- 200 g sugar
- 1 egg white
- 300 g whole blanched almonds (Or more, to liking)
Instructions
- Start by toasting the almonds on a tray in the oven. I usually start with the oven cold and turn it on to around 375ºF, letting the almonds warm up with the oven. Occasionally turn them, and turn the oven off when they start to turn a golden brown. You don’t want to burn them!
- Mix together the honey and sugar in a pan over low heat, and stir until the sugar is dissolved and well incorporated into the honey. If you have a candy thermometer, get it to somewhere between 240-250ºF (115-120ºC) before taking it off the heat. At this point, the temperature isn’t too important because we will be adding more moisture from the egg white, but by reducing the moisture content right now, you’ll save yourself a bit of time later.
- Beat the egg white until frothy.
- As you continue to beat the egg white, slowly drizzle in the hot honey and sugar mixture. This will whiten the sugar solution, and give you a thick, white, sticky mixture that will be the base of the nougat.
- Add the white mixture back to the pan, and heat at a low to medium heat, stirring constantly so that it doesn’t begin to burn.
- We are now working on reducing the moisture content of the candy mixture, and making it so that it will be hard and brittle when cooled. We’re really taking it past the hard ball stage to more of a soft or, even better, a hard crack stage. That said, while the candy stages are normally measured with a thermometer, I’ve found that you will end up with a nice consistency before your candy reaches the high temperature normally called for in the crack candy stages. This is because we are heating the nougat mixture at lower temperatures, while constantly mixing rather than leaving it alone to get to a certain temperature. The moisture content is reduced without the temperature getting as high.
- To check to see when to stop cooking the candy, take a small amount and put it into cold water to cool it. It should get hard and hold its shape when cool. At that point, you can add in the toasted almonds, stirring until they are well incorporated into the nougat mixture.
- Immediately pour into silicone molds. You can optionally use wafer sheets below and above the nougat to keep them candy from sticking to everything. To use the wafer sheets, place one sheet in the bottom of the mold, pour some nougat mixture over it, and press another wafer sheet into the mixture.
- Remove from the mold when cool. I wrapped mine in parchment paper to keep it from sticking because I didn’t have any wafer sheets. To store, wrap in plastic (covering with paper first to keep it from sticking), or an airtight container. Keep away from humidity to keep it from softening.
Christmas Candy Peppermint Soap
Jim
Thanks for the recipe one change we are doing is replacing half the honey with Karo syrup we thought it made it taste more like the store bought ones and less honey tasting.
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Jim,
I’m happy to hear you found something that worked for you!
Daniela
There is no Christmas without turrones! And since I move around quite a lot, finding turrones every year is a really hassle. So this year I decided I would make my own.
This recipe was great! Easy and with simple ingredients! I love it!
Mine also didn’t come out white but beige but they smell beautifully!
Will try them tonight! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Rabab Shaheeb
I used raw honey, thinking its paler color would yield a paler nougat. Not so, as it has tiny wisps throughout even though I kept the temperature super low. It turned out brown, and I think I may have over dried the mix. I also think the honey is overpowering.
Ting
Is that hard candy (crunchy texture)?
I end up making very brown to get it hard.?
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Ting,
Yes, it should get hard, but you have to heat it over very low heat so that it doesn’t darken too much as you evaporate off the liquid of the egg whites. The egg whites will easily darken or even burn if you cook them at too high of heat.
Nonya
Can I use a silicone muffin pan or like a 9 x 11 pan instead of a mold because I don’t have any molds? Also how big are the servings, I’m making this for my class and a few friends which is about 30 people.
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Nonya,
Yes, that’s probably fine. You’ll want to line with wax or parchment paper if not using a silicone mold.
It made around 725g- which would be 25 servings of 29g each. (I think it ended up being 2 loaf pan sized bars.)
yordy
Will using Tylose make the turron hard cooking it less time ?
Tracy Ariza
Hi Yordy,
I’m not really sure. It’s not something I’ve tried or am very familiar with.
Alessia
How many wafer sheets do you need to make one batch and what can you do to make the turron a little softer.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Alessia,
You don’t necessarily need wafer sheets. I don’t normally use them.
Two are normally used- one on top and one on the bottom. It’s mostly to hold things together and keep it from sticking to things.
If you want it softer, you just don’t cook for so long at the final stages. It makes for a consistency that is more difficult to eat, though. It’s a bit too chewy and could stick to and hurt your teeth, I think.
Tania Hansen
Hello:
I’m happy to find your recipe! My father’s uncles were bakers in Cuba and I have their recipe but it is a mega recipe. In my experience with making candies, there are several factors to think about. –
-Altitude: the higher you are the longer it takes to reach temperature. I live at 2650 ft. and it takes forever to achieve even a soft ball, I swear!!
-Moisture: do not make any cooked candy on a rainy day as it will be a complete fail.
-Temperature: I personally use the thermometer and the water method to test temperature.
I tend to take candy off the stove a few degrees or slightly less chewy as it continues to cook in the pan, this is really important when your are making caramels so that it doesn’t become toffee. Make sure not to scrape the bottom of the pan as it is always hotter at the bottom and if you scrape it into your poured out candy, it can either cause it to go harder or crystalize. Besides everyone wants to lick the pan anyway!
At any rate, I am excited to give your recipe a go. Good luck with your Turrón experiments in the future.
Tracy Ariza
Thanks so much for your super helpful tips!
Raida
Hello Ms. Ariza! I don’t have silicone molds nor am I using wafer sheets, is parchment paper okay? Also, how would I cut it to make 30 servings? I am making this for my Spanish class and need 30 pieces. Other than those two questions, this recipe looks simple enough and I can not thank you enough for posting it!
Tracy Ariza
Hi Raida,
Yes, Parchment paper should be fine.
I do have serving information up on the recipe- and you can adjust the serving size by editing what is in the box there. I calculated the number of servings based on what was shown to be an average size for a serving of turrón, but, of course, it will really depend on how big you want your pieces to be.
It made 2 tablets that were the size of a loaf pan (around 1cm high). For 30 people, though, you’d probably want to make more, despite the fact that it is supposed to make around 25 servings. Those servings would be very small.
I’d personally probably double the recipe, making 4 bars, just to make sure you make enough for everybody. I can’t imagine there being any leftovers. 😉
Raida
Thank you!
Zoe
Yeah.. But when I put in 30 servings, it said 1.2 egg whites. What is up with that? Like, how can you measure out that?
Tracy Ariza
Well, the recipe template adjusts itself to give you an exact amount to go with the exact amount of servings you are asking for.
Eggs aren’t really that precise anyway, though- some are a lot larger than others.
If it’s saying 1.2 egg whites, I’d use a full one and part of another one. You don’t have to be exact. Just try to take about 1/5th of it-
Or, you can just use a really large egg with more egg whites than usual.
Dusty
Is the ingredients right? Only 1 egg white? Cause I tried making it a couple times and mine never turns out as white as your in all the pictures.
Tracy Ariza
Hi Dusty,
If I remember correctly, yes, that is correct. If you add more, you’ll have a hard time evaporating off the liquid to get it hard again. Mine really isn’t that white either. It’s more of a light beige. The ones sold in stores are much whiter.
I’ll probably be making it again this year, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I used to make the one you see in the pics.
Is it getting light, but then darkening when you’re cooking it? Have you watched the video?
It may be that you’re using too high of a heat in the final part? (Now I’m going to watch the video because it’s been a while since I’ve made it.) 😉
Max
Hello if I cook the sugar and honey mixture higher temperature , like 130 // 135 c , does take less time to get harder or will not work ? Thank you
Tracy Ariza, DDS
Hi Max,
The problem is that at high temperatures, the sugar caramelize and changes in flavor. Also it can make the turrón hard and sticky.
My first batches played with increasing the sugar mixture temperature but I wasn’t happy with the results!