Thursday, December 13, 2007

Rocca Rocca Everywhere, And Not A Bit To Spare

Mom's Almond Rocca

*This is an absolute Christmas necessity in my family. It’s only made once a year because it’s a pain to make but its ooooohhhh sooooooo good!!! Very good as gifts.

(This is for a double batch and can easily be halved)
2 cans Smokehouse Almonds (Blue Diamond is a good brand)
Chop nuts as fine or as chunky as you like (reserve half a cup and chop very fine for topping)

In a heavy pot (like a dutch oven) melt 1 pound real butter (don’t use unsalted!).
Add 2 2/3 C. white sugar, 1Tblsp light corn syrup, & 6 Tblsp. water.

Stir over meduim-high heat until it starts to boil. Then wash the sides of the pot and the stir spoon down with water on a pastry brush,
eliminating any sugar crystals. Cook, stirring occasionally (frequently/occasionally and avoid scraping the sides of the pan. only scrape the bottom of pan) until it reaches the hard crack stage (300 degrees on a candy thermometer). You’ll have to stir continually after it reaches 280 degrees to keep it from scorching.

At 300 degrees turn heat off and quickly stir in nuts (again, try to avoid scraping the sides of the pan) Pour onto an ungreased cookie sheet (or two overlapped sheets of aluminum foil on your counter top) and let set for about 5 min. Then, gently sprinkle with a 12 oz. Bag of your favorite chocolate chips and let set until chips are melted and ready to spread. Spread chocolate and sprinkle with reserved nuts and let set till chocolate hardens. Then break up into desired size pieces

My extra tips;

1. Wait till it gets to just 1-2 degrees above 300 degrees before you remove from heat (I find that if you take it off too soon the Rocca is a bit chewy)
2. Don’t bother putting the candy thermometer in until the mixture turns a deep golden brown or you’ll be bothered by it for longer than necessary.
3. The best stirring spoon is a long handled, flat bottomed, wooden spoon
4. When the mixture starts to boil wear an oven mitt on your stirring hand (you will prevent many a blister this way)
5. If you cool it on Aluminum foil, loosen it from off the foil before trying to break it, otherwise it will shatter rather than break.
Cashew Rocca
this is a variation that I started making sevearl years ago and it is SO very yummy. Make rocca as stated above, only swap out the almonds and chocolate chips for cashews and white chocolate chips. ENJOY!

8 comments:

Lori ~ The Simple Life at Home said...

Um, I totally love these recipes lately. Can't wait to get home and make some. Almond Roca is one of my favorites, but so expensive!

And I hope you don't mind, but I've tagged you for a Christmas thing over on my blog. I hope you enjoy it!!

Unknown said...

Sounds great. I am waaaay too lazy to make this one though.

Kim @ TheBitterBall

Montserrat said...

Perfect! My FIL loves Almond Rocca. I was going to buy some to put in his Goodie Jar for Christmas but this is a much cheaper alternative.

Family Adventure said...

Oooohh..yummy. Can you send me a batch?!?

Heidi :)

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

I lived on Almond Rocha over the last half of September this year. Thanks for the recipe, it will be well used.

Caffienated Cowgirl said...

Oh I adore rocca! I've never made it from scratch...but will definitely do it now :)

Scribbit said...

Oh my. Just oh. My. You know what this means don't you? :)

Lisa said...

All your goodie recipes sound heavenly! I was just realizing that Christmas has changed because the kids are getting out of school too close to Christmas and there isn't a "pre-Christmas" anymore. -Time to bake and watch Frosty 150 times. Instead they go to school right through Friday and it makes for a different build up.