White nougat

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 80 g almonds, whole, with skin
• 80 g hazelnuts, whole, with skin
• 50 g pistachios, whole, unsalted
• 1 egg white
• 1 pinch of salt
• 270 g sugar, or light cane sugar
• 150 g honey, mild
• 50 ml water
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar (bourbon) or vanilla extract

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest period approx. 1 day; Total time approx. 1 day 45 minutes

also called French nougat, for 30 pieces

Gently toast the nuts and almonds in a dry pan for about 5 minutes. Add the pistachios and toast for 2 minutes. Be careful, they will brown much faster! Place everything in a towel, twist it up, and rub it between your hands to loosen any darkened hazelnut skins. Then place the nuts in a coarse sieve and let cool. Beat the egg whites with salt until stiff peaks form. Add 20g of the sugar and continue beating briefly. Heat the remaining sugar, honey, and water over medium heat to 143°C (either measure with a candy thermometer or roughly estimate. In my case, the mixture bubbled nicely for about 5 minutes). The mixture must not get too brown (it just doesn’t look as pretty in the end). Now very slowly stir this syrup into the beaten egg whites over medium speed. Add the vanilla. Continue stirring the mixture for about 20 minutes. It doesn’t matter whether you use a food processor or an electric hand mixer, the main thing is that you do it long enough. This long stirring allows the nougat to become firm enough to slice. Now immediately fold in the nuts using a spatula or similar. The mixture will thicken quickly, so please work quickly! Then pour into a baking dish lined with baking paper. Let the nougat rest in a well-ventilated, normal-temperature place for 1-2 days. Then cut into cubes or slices as desired, or leave it whole. Do not store the nougat in the refrigerator, as it is too humid there. The nougat would absorb moisture and become softer and stickier again. Shelf life at least 4 weeks.