About fifteen years ago the original recipe, called Almond Roca, came my way and I wish I could remember who it came from as then I would know who to tell the next time I am once again asked to NEVER make it again.
I added dried cranberries and chocolate drizzle to the original recipe and doubled the entire recipe to fill a cookie tray as doing this in an 8 x 8 pan was too fiddly for me. By all means cut the recipe back down if that makes sense for you.
Now from a kitchen witch perspective and combined with your complimentary intention, the ingredients cover protection or on a more active level banishment, opening to abundance in the form of money, renewal and new life and the blessings of prosperity. Very similar to why sugared almonds are given at weddings today and the reason almonds were tossed at newlyweds in ancient Rome.
You will need:
Graham crackers to fill a standard size cookie sheet. (The box above that says P’tite Abeille are graham wafers, I promise.)
1/4 pound flaked almonds
1/4 pound dried cranberries
1 pound butter (yup, that’s right, no substitutions)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
Chocolate for drizzling
Relax your mind, leave the nigglies by the door and find your center. Take a deep breath in, remembering your intention for this recipe and relax, slowly breathing out. Are you making gifts? Are you opening space for more abundance? Welcome the compassionate spirits and invite them to guide you. Deep breath in, release….. and begin.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line the cookie tray with aluminum foil, making sure the corners are neat but not broken by over zealous fingers. It makes the whole process much easier if you don’t have to clean toffee off the tray itself.
Line the foil with whole graham wafers and then cut ones to fill the empty spaces. Cut wafers with a serrated knife, sawing back and forth not just pushing down for the best success rate.
Sprinkle the graham wafers evenly with almonds and dried cranberries and put aside until the sauce is ready.
Not all the pictures are great here, Sorry, winter lighting can be a bit of a challenge.
In a pot on the stove begin to melt the butter, adding the brown sugar and corn syrup when about half the butter has been melted.
Putting the brown sugar or cornsyrup in the pot first has on occasion caused the ingredients not to combine and it is an expensive recipe to have to redo.
The brown sugar will begin to bubble up through the melted butter, allow the mixture to come to a full boil for three minutes.
Your mixture will now be thick and gooey. This picture is with half the caramel. You will fill the tray. Pour over the graham crackers and place in the oven for ten minutes. At the ten minute mark, take a look, the entire mixture should be in a full bubble.
As ovens are all different, I have come to say as I have shared this recipe, that paying attention to time is important. If you like a crackable treat you may choose to add a few more minutes in the oven. If you like soft and gooey, maybe a minutes or two less. It is a matter of personal preference but too long and the mixture will take on a burnt flavour as it is important to remember the mixture will continue cooking after it is taken from the oven.
Cool, cool, cool. It will take time for the center to reach room temperature even though the edges may be ready in a couple of minutes,
Truth be told, I gather up all the Christmas baking I am doing that includes chocolate and all at once I melt, temper and finish them off, usually after my last chocolate class of the season.
If tempering is not your thing or you are wondering what on earth I am talking about then choose a chocolate that needs only to be melted and stirred before it is ready to use.
Drizzle the melted chocolate back and forth over the entire tray. I usually do that at an angle, making sure there will be some chocolate on each piece once broken up into smaller pieces.
Now if you have been paying close attention you will notice that the chocolate in the set up picture was dark, my personal first choice, and this drizzle is white.
That is because I took out an old copy of the recipe and forgot to double the sauce so I had to make a second batch which took time allowing the first batch to cool. The upshot was that the tray had to bake a little longer to get that full bubble in the middle and that meant the almonds got a little toastier than usual making white chocolate a better contrast than dark.
In the end it really is a question of personal choice although milk has never really seemed to do the job for me in this recipe.
Store in an airtight container and break or cut into pieces before serving. If you give this away as gifts, mention the airtight storage. It will help keep it crunchier longer.
Quick to make and with the intention of helping you get through the season in the same dress size, best given away, not something to have lots of around your home unless you have a constant stream of visitors to share with. The reason I have been asked not to make this again, several times, is because it was gobbled up in one sitting and general lethargy ensued.
Cranberry Almond Caramel Crunch from My Kitchen Wand
