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Singer and actor Liv Austen has turned a health issue into a passion for cooking, by taking control of every ingredient that goes in to her meals. Every week she shares something she has learned from cooking from scratch, and goes through a recipe she loves, so you can cook alongside the podcast. Cook from scratch - your body will thank you.
Sweet and versatile
Almond is in my opinion, one of the most versatile nuts. Perfect both raw and roasted as a snack, as butter or in baking, as garnish and used in breakfasts, dinners and desserts alike, I always make sure to have almonds in the house. My main go-tos for using them is as part of my granola, as well as some chopped over an oven roasted dinner such as my turkey bake.
Almond is a tree nut, the seed of the almond tree. They originated in the Middle East, but are now super popular all over the world.
Almonds, like other nuts we have looked at, have amazing health benefits! They are rich in antioxidants, among them Vitamin E, which seems to lower risk of heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. They are also rich in magnesium, which helps control your blood sugar levels - so a fantastic snack for us all, especially people with diabetes. Magnesium also helps control your blood pressure.
Almonds are high in healthy fats, and also high in fibre. So though they are calorific like other nuts, they can actually help with weight management as they help you feel full. Also, that good fat is great for your body and brain, so snack and cook with almonds to your heart’s content!
There’s so many ways to use almonds, from healthy breakfast bowls to the loved/hated marzipan. I am curious to hear what your feelings are on almonds and how you normally use them!
Do you like almonds? How do you use them in the kitchen? Message me on Instagram @TheFromScratchBody!
Much more almond!
My new favourite activity is to carry my baby boy around with me in a sling and show him the ingredients lists on the back of products in the shop. The poor guy can’t escape, so he has to listen to my boring ramblings about how “they don’t need a hundred ingredients in this! We make it with three at home!” and “how many percent nut?!”.
I get that if you need lots of marzipan for a cake or you want to involve your kids in making some marzipan fruit at Christmas - it’s quick and easy to buy some ready made. And it’s totally fine! But I just want to share with you how insanely easy it is to make from scratch, and you get the benefits of feeling super proud to have made it yourself, and you get a much more nut-rich version than the ones in the shop. You can also choose your desired added flavour!
Marzipan
180g almonds (skin on or blanched)
140g icing sugar (same as frosting/powdered sugar)
A splash of cold water
Optional: a dash of almond extract for extra intense flavour, or you can use rose essence, orange essence or other for different flavours!
Other options: a bit of cocoa powder for dusting, food colouring for making marzipan fruit or other figurines
Equipment needed:
A clean tea towel
A food processor or powerful blender
As I said, you will laugh at how easy this is. If you have skin-off (blanched) almonds, you can skip this first step. But for regular, skin-on almonds, put them in a bowl that you can cover, pour boiling hot water over them and cover immediately. Let them soak for 2 minutes, and then soak immediately in ice cold water. You want to shock their skin off! Now it should be relatively easy to get the skins off, put them on a clean tea towel and fold the towel over and start rubbing. The skin should come off most of the nuts, some may need a bit more thorough peeling.
When all the skin is off, put the blanched almonds in a food processor and blitz them until they become almond flour, which shouldn’t take very long. Then add in your icing sugar and blitz again. While it’s running, add the tiniest bit of cold water, and you should see it come together as a paste quite quickly. Do stop to check the consistency, because it may look to dry, but actually be nice and sticky when you touch it (so don’t just keep pouring on more water!).
You can add in almond extract or a different flavour essence for the last bit of blitzing in the food processor, but this is totally up to you.
Once the marzipan is made, you can eat it straight away! Make whatever shapes you like, I’m not much of a decorative desserts-type of person so I just roll them into balls and dust with a bit of cocoa, but you may be a bit more patient and creative than me!
I’d love to see your marzipan and how it turned out, please do share it with me if you are happy with the result!
Share on Instagram and tag @TheFromScratchBody and hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!