We usually have this just around Christmas time but it's a favorite in our home so we make it often all year long.
It's a delicious honey-flavored almond delightful candy.
We always make this around Christmas time.
This is a fluffy white delicious lemon-flavored Italian candy. Grandma would always have Torrone in the house, she would always say it tasted like the communion in Church and her favorite.
Amazingly enough, it's not hard to make, just time-consuming and a candy thermometer is a must-have.
You can make this in many flavors, lemon, vanilla, orange to name a few. Little squares of fluffy nougat and delicious hazelnuts and almonds.
Quite a treat and old-fashioned Italian Christmas candy tradition.
Scroll down to our printable recipe card and stroll through the step-by-step photos to see how to make Italian Torrone Candy from scratch.
Different Flavors
Homemade Torrone candy can be any flavor you prefer.
The most common flavors are vanilla and lemon however orange, almond and other pure extracts can be used.
I have omitted the wafer paper on occasion by I do recommend investing in some for authenticity.
Tips
- measure exact amounts of ingredients
- keep nougat in an airtight container
- use a fudge size pan and make them around 1 inch high
- for more than one flavor divide the nougat into two bowls prepare a bowl with equal amounts of extract and nuts ( usually use 1 teaspoon of extract and make lemon and vanilla flavors
Ingredients You Will Need (scroll down to the printable recipe card for exact measurements
- toasted pistachios or blanched filberts( hazelnuts)
- toasted or blanched whole almonds
- sugar
- light corn syrup
- honey
- salt
- egg whites
- flavoring of choice: vanilla extract (lemon, orange, almond are optional flavors to try)
- butter softened
- Edible wafer candy paper available online or in special candy shops
Nougat
In Italy, nougat is known as torrone, and each city and region has its own traditional type of torrone, ranging from hard versions made with sugar to soft and chewy honey-based varieties.
This is a soft chewy torrone in style.
Homemade Italian Torrone
Yield: 2 pounds
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 40 Min
This is a special Italian candy we made around the Christmas holiday, The recipe is from my late grandmother from Rome, Italy made from scratch.
Ingredients
- 1 cup toasted pistachios or blanched filberts( hazelnuts)
- 2 cups toasted or blanched whole almonds
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 egg whites
- 2 teaspoon flavoring of choice: vanilla extract (lemon, orange, almond are optional flavors to try)
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- Edible wafer candy paper available online or in special candy shops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spread nuts on cookie sheet.
- Toast in oven 10 minutes, until golden.
- In a heavy, deep 3 quart saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, honey, salt, and 1/4 cup water.
- Stir over medium heat, until sugar is dissolved.
- Continue cooking, without stirring to 252 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount in cold water forms a hardball.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form. In a thin stream, pour about one-fourth of hot syrup over egg whites, beating constantly, at high speed 5 minutes, until mixture is stiff enough to hold its shape.
- Cook the rest of the syrup to 315 to 318 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount in cold water forms brittle threads.
- In a thin stream, pour hot syrup over meringue, beating constantly, at high speed, until stiff enough to hold its shape.
- Add vanilla and butter, beating until thickened again, about 5 minutes.
- With a wooden spoon, stir in toasted nuts.
- Turn mixture into a buttered 1 - 1 inch x 1 1/4 inch deep pan lined with wafer paper.
- Smooth top with a spatula, place another piece of wafer paper on top. Refrigerate until firm.
- Loosen edge of candy all around; turn out in the large block. With a sharp knife, cut into 2-inch pieces.
- Wrap each in waxed paper.
- Refrigerate. Makes 2 pounds.
Other Candy You May Like To Try
Salted Caramel Toffee BitesOreo Truffles
Peanut Butter Krispies Eggs
Rum Balls
Buckeye Bars
If you would like to order the Edible Wafer Paper for the candy check out see link below:
This is an Affiliate link and I do make a small commission see Disclosure Policy here
I make these! I make these! One of my favorite all-time candies. Come Easter,I want to do a post about them. Yours look so scurmptious- I want them with my coffee. You touched me - I adore these, can you tell? Truth be told,I like your recipe better than mind. Can I use it for the Examiner and link to you?
ReplyDelete@Claudia Hi thanks would be honored please contact me through email thank you :) appreciate your compliment very much!
ReplyDeleteI love that these can be made in such a variety of flavors. These look very similar to some nougat candies I had on a boat traveling from Italy to Greece.
ReplyDeletegreat recipe Claudia! My nonna used to give me these and I loved them!
ReplyDeletemeanwhile I had a biscotti adventure
http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/1816210-maeve-and-me-and-the-black-eyed-peas-do-biscotti-
Great post! I love torrone of course ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother used to make these. That's the last time I had them, that is had them home made :(
ReplyDeleteOMG, I adore torrone. The last time I saw a recipe on a blog, it spoke of the difficulty of making this amazing candy. I want to try to make them. Maybe I'll wait for Easter, too, since I have family coming and won't be inclined to eat them all myself. DSO doesn't care for them. Like your grandmother, they remind me of Communion, too. It must be how they melt on the tongue. You've made my day!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I didn't know that's what these were called. Some pastry student I am huh? Oh cool -you're gonna be in the paper, yay!!!
ReplyDeleteItalian sweets aways look so tasty. I love your posts with the sweets the most.
ReplyDeleteAlso,
I have an award for you! Please stop by to collect it :)
http://allingoodfood42.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-first-award.html
I too love these nougat candies .... and your's actually sounds easy enough to make..
ReplyDeleteLooks like nougat to me. Looks very delicious to me. Looks challenging to me. I wish you can just make them for me :P
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. Yes they are challenging at times, but most of the time they taste good even if I overcook them, there is a link for the wafer paper that makes them really delicious. Just remember to use lots of nuts and not beat them in!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite candy! I have never had the nerve to try to make it--I will give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it would be fun to make a lot of the old fashioned candies, like these. My parents used to make some at Christmas time. Most people just don't seem to make candy anymore, unless its for a holiday.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing the recipe. I am looking forward to try it.
ReplyDeleteI love nougat - this looks like a great, lighter candy recipe :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you re-posted this. I'm going to try this - my torrone has never turned out.
ReplyDeleteThese make me so happy! My grandma always has boxes of Torrone candy when we visit for the holidays. I never thought about making them myself!
ReplyDeleteI just made this. It is not difficult and it tastes really good. The hardest part was tranfering it from the mixing bowl to the pan, but with greased hands the job was easier. I did'nt have rice paper so I used greased parchment. I recommend making this & will be making it again soon :)
ReplyDeleteHi every one I've made these and it brought back memories of my New York days at the sanjanaro feast ,whoop whoop love me .
ReplyDelete