Turrón de Maní or Peanut Nougat

Tada, today I’m introducing a specialty that actually comes from Spain and has been adapted in Latin America with local products: turrón. In Germany, we would probably call this nougat. Turrón traditionally consists of a honey-sugar syrup that is mixed with egg whites and almonds. This “paste” is then pressed into relatively flat bars and then cut into pieces or cubes. I use the version with peanuts (maní), which are much cheaper to buy in Uruguay and are also native to the country. The Uruguayans have simply replaced almonds with a local product: peanuts. Turrón basically comes in two varieties: “duro”, i.e. hard turrón, or “blando”, i.e. the softer verrsion. I opted for the hard version. You should definitely be prepared to take at least 45 minutes to make this delicacy and you will need some arm muscle. However, I think it’s well worth the effort.

Having been raised in Uruguay and the USA despite a German passport, our Christmas traditions are quite a colorful mix. One tradition, for example, was that on the morning of December 25th, Christmas Day, we each had a plate of cookies from our grandma on the breakfast table. I think that’s a German tradition, isn’t it? That you serve a plate of cookies on Christmas? Of course, my grandma only served home-baked cookies. Peppernuts, for example, or her much-loved peppermint cookies. The sweets were from the Brazilian brand  Garoto, of course I have a homemade version of this truffle with peanut butter already on the blog.  Lastly, there would be different varieties of turrón on the plate. In Uruguay, as in Spain, turrón is especially served during Christmas. As a child, I somehow didn’t find turrón too appealing, I always ate the garoto chocolates first and hoped that my sister, who liked savory dishes, would give me some of hers. But as is always the case, as an adult I am not averse to turrón. How could it be otherwise, I particularly like turrón with peanuts, even if there are actually almonds in the original. But you can basically use any nut: almonds, pistachios, macadamias, etc. Dried fruit such as cranberries or orange and lemon zest also work well. The recipe I have presented consists mainly of peanuts, but I have also included pistachios and dried cranberries to give you an idea of what is possible.

My sister (on the left) and me stand proudly behind the table loaded with Christmas sweets at the home of my grandparents in Uruguay. You see the long bars, which are turrón and you also see the Brazilian truffles wrapped in yellow and red paper.

When I started looking for recipes, I noticed that YouTube videos from Uruguayans were often much less complicated than German ones. Here is just one example, Lucas Fuente from Uruguay doesn’t even need a different recipe for soft or hard turrón and doesn’t need a mold, in this German video there are many more detailed instructions for making hard turrón. My recipe below is a mixture of various videos and recipes that I found on the Internet. It was important to me that you can make turrón even if you don’t have a thermometer or a special mold.

Credit: Various recipes, I used this German one mainly as a guide

Print Recipe

Turrón de mani or Peanut Nougat

Prep Time: 30min – Cooking Time: 15min – Total Time: 45min

Turrón de mani or peanut nougat that originally comes from Spain. A sugar and honey syrup is mixed with egg white and then this paste enriched with nuts. Traditionally almonds are used, but Uruguayans use local peanuts instead.

Ingredients

• 200 grams of organic and unsalted peanuts
• 50 grams of pistachios
• Optional: 30 grams of dried cranberries or similar
• Optional: zest of one lemon or orange
• 250 grams of regular sugar
• 125 grams of honey
• 1 large egg white (about 30 grams), how to freeze egg yolks can be found here

Instructions

1

Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper. If you don't own one, you can also line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roast the peanuts in a frying pan on medium heat without using any fat until they smell nice. Put about 30 grams aside and roughly chop these up.

2

Meanwhile melt the sugar and honey in a large pot. The mixture should slowly become thinner, be sure to stir all the time. Once it starts to bubble, let it bubble for a few minutes and continue stirring. To know when it is ready, drop a bit of the syrup in cold water, if you can bend it between your fingers, it is ready. Set aside.

3

Meanwhile beat the egg white to stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. Now add the egg white to the syrup by the spoonful and mix vigorously. If you want softer turrón, you can skip the next step of heating up this mixture again. For hard turrón place back on the stove and on medium heat and while stirring reduce liquid even more. You should be done in about 5 minutes. , z

4

Fold in nuts, zests, if using, you will need arm power. Press into the prepared loaf pan or create a rectangle on your baking sheet, it should be the thickness of a thumb, mine pictured are too high. You can also oil your hands and press it into a rectangle. Let dry for about 24 hours. I let mine dry for 90 minutes in the ovenat 50 degrees Celsius as otherwise it can be super sticky and annoying. If kept airtight, it will keep for a few weeks, some say even months, but ours was gone much faster. How to clean the pot from the syrup easily, can be found here.