Will You Pay Me $5 to Eat Paste?

Well, almond paste...not, like...white glue paste. That would be gross. Although, when I was little, I did love putting glue on my hands and letting it dry and then peeling it off...am I alone? Should I be embarrassed now? I really hope someone else used to get the same bizarre pleasure out of wasting elementary school reserves of white glue. Moving on! So Almond paste, turns out it's really, really super easy to make yourself! I was inspired after reading a post on Two Tarts and thought, 'if they can do it, so can I!'. First, you need to blanch and peel the almonds to get rid of their little brown coats...

It's so simple, 1 or 2 minutes tops in boiling water, lay out on a sheet pan to cool, and then with your fingers, pinch them out of their skins. They come out very easily.

Next, blitz them in the food processor for a good couple of minutes until they are super, finely chopped. Then, add in the sugar (I added some almond extract as well) and egg whites to bind and pulse until it comes together in a ball

Store tightly wrapped in cling film and keep in the refrigerator!

I used this almond paste in an Almond Shortbread (which I'll post later). The Almond and Chocolate Shortbread I made originally didn't have the punchy almond flavour I was hoping for, so I thought I'd try using almond paste instead of chopped almonds and almond oil in the cookie.

But now I have all this extra almond paste...what should I do with it?? Any suggestions? Post them in the comment section below. Hopefully I can try out a yummy, almond-y something very soon!

Happy Baking!

xoxo