Gebrante Mandeln

Gebrante mandeln which means burnt almonds are simply almonds coated with cinnamon flavoured caramel. Makanan ringan paling klassik kat weihnachtsmarkt/christmasmarket ataupun kat funfair.Kalau kat mesia nun, lebih kurang cam kacang rebus  kat pasar malam la. I love gebrante mandeln, but sometimes kalau beli kat gerai2 tu and nasib tak baik, the sugar coating yang lebih dari almond. Almond ciput, sugar coating pulak very thick and hard.

That day, my in MIL bawak sepeket besar buat nak mengunyah (my MIL ni mmg type suka makanan kunyah2 ni). Anyway , it was so sedap  I asked her where she bought it.  She told me she made it herself, guna microwave jer.  Biar betik! Hehe..but I didn’t say that la. I said ‘Awesomeness!’..I was very impressed, because I’ve seen the huge machine those sellers use to make those gebrante mandel and I’ve heard stories about the sellers having secret recipes to make them.  But then again my MIL  gebrante mandeln are slightly different, in a way that the sugar coating are not really caramel, but really sugar syrup coating which is white rather than the normal brown. Still the almonds tasted fresh and the sugar coating was so light and crunchy, so I asked her if she could show me how to make them and she did.

Really easy, 

First get yourself whole almonds, the best are brown ones, not the white ‘skinned’ ones. Get a microwave safe container with cover and mix 3-4 tablespoon normal sugar (according to how much almonds you want, we use about 150g of almonds) with some water and a little cinnamon powder. Mix to get a light fluid, not too thick. Then microwave on medium for 1 ½ minutes. Do be careful because hot sugar can be really hot! 

Remove the container from the microwave and add the almonds to it. Try to coat the almonds with the syrup evenly with a spoon. Microwave it again, covered for another 1 ½ minutes.  Use a spoon and stir the almonds until the sugar slowly crystallizes.  Keep stirring until the almonds are slightly cool to handle. Pour the almonds onto a baking parchment and let cool completely. You can enjoy them when they’re completely cooled.

I still have some of it stashed even though the season is over. I love them because they somehow remind me of the holiday season and for me they make winter more bearable.