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1
Place the granulated sugar and water in a large copper pot or 4-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
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2
Add the almonds and stir to coat them evenly in the sugar syrup.
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3
Your goal is to cook the almonds until the sugar crystallizes and caramelizes.
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4
When water is added to the sugar, the sugar crystals are dissolved.
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5
As it boils, the syrup becomes thicker as the water evaporates and big soap-like bubbles begin to form.
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6
Soon, all the moisture evaporates and the mixture becomes sandy.
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7
The sandiness is the sugar recrystallizing.
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8
It only takes the reformation of one sugar crystal to recrystallize the others.
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9
Keep stirring!
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10
Next, you see the sugar closest to the heat change from sandy to a clear liquid.
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11
The melted sugar clings to the almonds.
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12
When the sugar changes from clear to golden brown, the nuts are caramelized.
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13
Once this happens, pay close attention; the time it takes to pass from caramelized to burned is only a matter of seconds, especially when making smaller batches.
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14
You know the nuts are finished when most of the sandy sugar is gone.
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15
The first few times you make these, I suggest you try the following: When the sugar closest to the heat changes from sandy to liquid, remove the pan from the burner and continue to stir.
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16
The residual heat in the sugar and nuts will continue to cook the mixture while you stir it.
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17
Lower the heat to medium-low and continue to stir the nuts while moving the saucepan on and off the heat at 10-second intervals.
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This will give you more control as it cooks.
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19
When the nuts begin to caramelize, remove them from the heat and finish stirring.
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20
Use a wooden spoon to spread the caramelized nuts onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.
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21
Do not touch the nuts as they are extremely hot.
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22
Let the nuts cool completely.
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23
If your freezer will accommodate the baking sheet, you can place the nuts in the freezer for about 30 minutes to speed up the cooling process.
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24
When completely cooled, break apart any nut clusters that may have formed.
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25
At this stage, you can choose to serve the nuts as they are.
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26
Place the caramelized nuts in the coating pan attached to the stand mixer.
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27
Spin at low speed.
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28
Use a ladle to add the chocolate to the spinning nuts.
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29
Add 1 ladle at a time until the nuts are coated to the desired thickness.
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30
If a thicker coat is desired, use more chocolate.
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31
If a thinner coat is desired, decrease the amount of chocolate.
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32
Finish by adding cocoa powder to the coating pan.
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33
Remove and serve.
