Image is for illustrative purposes only.
This is a simple almond filling of the kind used through the Christmas baking season, built on almond meal bound with a light sugar syrup and a little cornflour. The orange paste lifts it, so the finished paste tastes of almond first and citrus just behind, and it holds its shape when it is rolled or piped.
The texture is soft, dense and slightly grainy, closer to a spreadable marzipan than to a cream. Use it as a log rolled through a stollen, as a filling for Christmas pastries, tarts and cookies, or spread thinly under fruit in a flan before baking, where it soaks up the juices instead of letting them run into the base.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Note: The Recipe Calculator Tool is available to subscribers.
Weight Per Unit: 850
Number of Units: 1
Unit Size: batch of filling, about 850 g
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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500 |
1.1 pounds
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Almond Meal
Almond meal, almond flour or ground almond is made from ground sweet almonds. Almond flour is usually made with blanched almonds (no skin), whereas almond meal can be made both with whole or blanched almonds. The consistency is more like corn meal than wheat flour.
It is used in pastry and confectionery – in the manufacture of almond macarons and other sweet pastries, in cake and pie filling, such as Sachertorte and is one of the two main ingredients of marzipan and almond paste. In France, almond meal is an important ingredient in frangipane, the filling of traditional galette des Rois cake.
Almond meal has recently become important in baking items for those on low carbohydrate diets. It adds moistness and a rich nutty taste to baked goods. Items baked with almond meal tend to be calorie-dense.
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B
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150 |
5.3 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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C
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100 |
0.4 cup
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Water
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D
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50 |
1.8 ounces
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Orange Paste
Orange paste is boiled and blended oranges. Take a few fresh oranges and wash them first. Then simmer them in water for 1 hour. After they have cooled down, cut them in half and remove the seeds (if using seedless oranges, you can skip this part). Blend the whole lot in to a creamy paste using a food processor. This orange paste is better than anything you can buy from a store and you can also do this with lemons. If you want to make a large amount and store it, you can also blend up to an equal amount (of the total weight of lemons or oranges) sugar, with the lemons or oranges.
homemade or bought
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E
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50 |
1.8 ounces
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Corn Starch
Corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour or maize starch or maize is the starch derived from the corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the corn kernel. Corn starch is a popular food ingredient used in thickening sauces or soups, and is used in making corn syrup and other sugars.
cornflour
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sifted |
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850
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.
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The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Prepare |
In a bowl, mix A and E (almond meal and corn starch) together so the starch is evenly spread through the almond meal. |
No lumps of starch left sitting on top |
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2 |
Heat |
Put B, C and D (caster sugar, water and orange paste) in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. |
Clear syrup, sugar fully dissolved |
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3 |
Mix |
Pour the hot syrup over the almond meal mixture and stir straight away with a spatula or wooden spoon until it comes together as a paste. |
Evenly moistened, no dry almond meal at the bottom |
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4 |
Cook |
Return the mixture to the pan over low heat and stir for a minute or two so the corn starch cooks out and the paste thickens. |
Thick and glossy, pulling away from the side of the pan |
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5 |
Cool |
Spread the filling into a shallow dish and press cling film directly onto the surface. |
Cooled to room temperature before use, no skin formed |
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6 |
Store |
Keep covered in the fridge and bring back to room temperature before rolling or piping. Knead it briefly if it has firmed up too much. |
Soft enough to spread or pipe without tearing the dough |
Important Notes
At the size given here the recipe makes about 850 g of filling — enough for one large stollen, a tray of filled Christmas pastries, or a couple of tarts. The paste firms up as it cools, so judge the consistency once it is cold, not while it is hot. If it is too stiff to spread, work in a spoonful of warm water; if it is too soft, a little more almond meal will bring it back. Covered well, it keeps in the fridge for about a week and freezes for a couple of months.
Tools & Arrangements
Kitchen scales, mixing bowl, small saucepan, spatula or wooden spoon, shallow dish for cooling, cling film
