Jordan almonds are NASTY!!! Who's with me here? Want to drive up your guests's cost for attending your wedding? Have them break their teeth on one of these bits of hideousness. Why don't you just offer jawbreaker favors? Hey, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck…
Still, I love the idea of offering almonds as favors. They're so traditional. They are generally given five at a time. I've heard conflicting reasons for this, but my favorite is that, as an odd number, five cannot be split in half (just like a marriage–hopefully.) The combination of nut and candy supposedly represents the bitter-sweet character of marriage. Yuppers! Marriage is awesome, but it's also really hard sometimes. Anyway, the point is as much as I want to be a little bad-ass iconoclast, I still have a sweet spot in my heart for certain traditions.
That got me thinking. Almonds are super healthy (ahem, unless you coat them on impenetrable "candy" and leave them for years on end until the inner nut becomes disgustingly soft and rubbery). And almonds are often an integral part of trail mixes of all kinds. So what better favor for mountain weddings than a modern take on an old classic: sweet and savory roasted almonds. You can roast your own almonds easily and wrap them into a sweet little package using cheesecloth or some pretty fabric. Project Wedding has an excellent tutorial
Roasted Almonds Tip
from Badger Girl Learns to Cook
Patrick shared with us a great tip for roasting almonds. Toss the sliced almonds with 1 egg white and 1 teaspoon of salt. The ratio is approximately 1 lb almonds : 1 egg white : 1 teaspoon of salt. The egg white gives the almonds added crunch and also provides something to which the salt can adhere.
Spread out almonds on a baking sheet and bake at 350 until golden brown. Check on them frequently. Loosen them from the pan and break them apart throughout the baking. The almonds will be more likely to clump together because of the egg white.
You wouldn’t think a little egg white would make a big difference but it really does. Try it!
Recipes:
- http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/olive-oil-roasted-almonds
- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/cinnamon-roasted-almonds/detail.aspx
- http://sproutedkitchen.com/?p=1211
- http://scandifoodie.blogspot.com/2011/07/rosemary-roasted-almonds.html
Top Image from Elizabeth Ann Designs. All others from Project Wedding