Why not surprise your loved ones this holiday season with some homemade “Turrón”, Spain’s special Christmas almond nougat? If tempering chocolate worries you (although it’s not actually that difficult), you can skip this step, but do use a flexible silicone mould to be able to turn it out more easily.

Couverture:

100 g chocolate 70%

Ganache:

60 g chocolate 70%

60 g almond butter (you can make this at home by grinding almonds in a powerful food processor until they have a creamy texture)

15 g EVOO La Cultivada Arbequina

2 tablespoons sliced almonds (toasted)

Silicone mold: here we used an energy bar mold which makes two small bars of turrón.

1. Melt the chocolate couverture in a bowl placed over a saucepan of boiling water. It’s not necessary to keep it on the heat, as the residual heat of the bowl will melt the chocolate while you stir it. If you do keep the saucepan on the heat, keep it low so that the chocolate does not burn.

2. If you wish to temper the chocolate, follow this step. If not, skip to step 3 below. 

Pour 80% of the chocolate onto a clean work surface, and move around with a spatula to lower the temperature from the initial 50ºC down to 28ºC. When it reaches this temperature, add it back to the bowl which contains the reserved 20% of the chocolate, and mix well. This will increase the temperature by a couple of degrees. 

3. Pour the chocolate into the mold you are going to use, and swirl about to cover the sides. Place upside down on a wire cooling rack (put some baking paper underneath to collect the excess chocolate). Gently tap the mold so that the chocolate runs out: we want to create a thin layer, just enough to coat the mold. Place in the fridge to cool.

4. Meanwhile, mix the almond cream with La Cultivada Arbequina EVOO in a bowl, and stir to combine.

5. Melt the chocolate for the filling (the ganache) using a bain-marie. You can use the chocolate collected in step 3. 

6. Once the chocolate is melted, add the almond and EVOO cream. Mix well and fill the molds that have been previously coated. 

7. Sprinkle a few slices of toasted almonds on top, then chill in the fridge so that the mixture solidifies a little. It will not solidify as much as the coating because this is the creamy part of the turrón.

Note: remove from the fridge half an hour before serving for a creamier turrón.