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How To Blanch Almonds

"What is a blanched almond?"

how to blanch almonds

I'm embarrassed. I was close to fifty and I didn't know how to blanch almonds. My friends and family know me as a high maintenance-food-elitist-cooking-snob and yet I didn't even know what a blanched almond was! *GASP!* Ok, I wasn't embarrassed really. I was just miffed.

So what are blanched almonds anyway? Blanched almonds are almonds without the skins. That's it! Nothing else.

I have several Italian cakes and Italian cookie recipes that call for them. The photo gallery below has all the Italian dessert recipes I have that call for blanched almonds. So once you know how to blanch almonds - you can bake away. That's how I got started, my recipes kept calling for them.

I've had success. And I've had not-so-much-success a couple of times. With my adventures in blanching - I think I've covered everything NOT to do, and written it as simple as I could so you can have success first time out.

Plan on at least if you are doing about a cups worth, and that's mainly because I'm adding in cooling time. The doing of it isn't that long - but you need them to cool and dry too.

Here's all you need:

  • Water
  • Stove
  • Almonds
  • Crash Helmet (ok, just kidding)
  • Thanks for stopping by - the steps are listed below.

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    How To Blanch Almonds Step By Step

    Step One

    Boil water. No need to over analyze. That simple.

    Step Two

    Once the water boils - add almonds. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE! Leave almonds in boiling water for ONE minute - no longer!

    Step Three

    After one minute take the boiling water off of the stove and pour into a colander/strainer. Immediately rinse with cold water.

    Step Four

    Now, the fun part - popping the almonds out of their skin. The almond skin will look like real old people's skin and should be slippery enough to come loose pretty easy. I just pop, slide and shoot. And they will shoot far if you want to make a game of it for your kids. (Do I need a disclaimer, here?)

    Step Five

    Lay the blanched almonds in a single layer to air out. I usually let my blanched almonds sit a bit before using them to cook with.

    How come they are soggy after I take the skin off?

    Did you boil longer than one minute? Hmmm... Really? Nobody interupted you? No kids asked a question, no dogs barking? Could be several reasons - humidity, older almonds, boiled too long. Bottom line - you want them dried. To remedy you can try the following:

  • blot with paper towel
  • put in oven that was heated to 200 degrees and then turned off
  • IF you recipe calls for toasting the blanched almonds - blot first and get as dry as possible

  • how to blanch almonds

    What kind of almonds do I start with?

    Whole unblanched almonds. They will look the picture at the left.

    All in all blanching almonds is easy. Not a complex process. So, now that you know how blanch almonds yourself - give it a try!

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