There are so many things I love about the Easter menu, especially when it comes to the desserts and treats. Hot cross buns, braided sweet dough loaves baked with colored eggs, trifles, baked sweet cheese pies, filled crescents and so many different kinds of fried pastries. In addition to all of that, we can’t forget the candy…from chocolate filled eggs, marshmallow peeps and bunnies to the soft nougat eggs rolled in pecans…oh, how I love those things. They were a regular item on our dessert table around the Easter Holidays and were quickly devoured. Unfortunately these items were only available during the Holidays, but thank goodness for the salted nut rolls…these are basically the same thing except rolled in roasted peanuts for a quick fix.
If you have never had nougat, let me just tell you that it is a candy made with egg whites, sugar, glucose (or corn syrup) and/or honey which gives it a much nicer flavor. The traditional European version is made with either hazelnuts or almonds, and cherries but these days you can find them with just about any type of nut including macadamia and many other combinations of dried fruits.
The consistency can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy, depending on how it’s made. It all depends on how long you cook the sugar, if it is cooked to a lower temperature it will remain soft and contrarily, if it is cooked to a higher temperature it will yield a crunchier product.
Some recipes that I have come across use melted cocoa butter for a richer product, but I usually don’t use it.
The recipe I use is one that I modified from a well known candy maker named Flora Lazar, who owns Flora’s Confections in Chicago. I use the same ingredients but slightly more egg whites and I put it together a little differently to yield a softer nougat, which I prefer. If you would like a crispier version, then check out this link and watch how she makes the crunchier version.
Here are some instructional videos on how to cook sugar to both soft ball stage and also the soft crack stage, where the sugar should NOT take on any color, if it has you have cooked it too long and will have to start again.
I will tell you that making nougat correctly is a matter of timing. You may have to do it a few times to get into the right rhythm of how to put everything together, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes because we have all made them. Even if you make a mistake, don’t worry! it will NOT go to waste and it’s still delicious…so don’t be afraid to try these, you won’t regret it!
Soft Nougat
120 grams egg whites (about 4 egg whites)
440 grams sugar
145 grams water
345 grams honey
90 grams glucose (or corn syrup)
275 grams roasted whole almonds, warm
130 grams roasted whole pistachios, warm
Add egg whites to the bowl of your stand mixer and begin to whip with the wire whisk attachment on your mixer until fluffy. While eggs are whipping, add the sugar and water together in a medium pot and heat to 300°F, which is the lower end of the hard crack stage (300°-310°F). You do not want the sugar to take on any color because then it will be very hard to incorporate into the egg whites. At the same time, add the honey and glucose to another medium sized pot and cook this to the lower end of the soft ball stage (235°-240°F).
Place the nuts on a sheet pan and roast them for about 15-20 minutes. These must still be slightly warm when you add to the nougat.
Once the honey and glucose mixture has reached the soft ball stage, pour this FIRST into the beating egg whites on high speed…egg whites should be very fluffy before pouring in the honey mixture. Once you have added this, keep an eye on the other sugar syrup as it will cook quickly and will almost be at the right temperature. Once it has reached the right stage, slowly pour this into the beating mixture. Let this beat some more for a few minutes with the wire whisk and then remove the wire whisk and use the paddle to continue the process until this mixture has completely cooled. Once cooled after about 15 minutes, add the nuts and dried fruit and mix until just combined. Pour this out into a small quarter sheet whose sides have been gently oiled and where the bottom of the pan is lined with rice paper. If you don’t have rice paper, you can use parchment paper that has been slightly oiled. Use a lightly oiled scraper to even out the mixture. It will be very sticky. Use a piece of parchment paper on top of this and then a rolling pin to even out the top. Allow this to set overnight, and then next day you can cut this into bars or individual bite size pieces.
If you would like to make this into eggs, this recipe should make 6 eggs. Pour the mixture onto a lightly oiled piece of parchment and allow to setup for 1 hour. Then cut into equal pieces and roll into egg shapes and wrap in plastic wrap overnight to retain the shape. Re-roll them into egg shapes the next day and dip in chocolate.
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