NOUGAT No. 3 (Soft White Nougat)
Put into a saucepan the whites of three eggs whipped to a stiff froth; beat into them one pound of heated strained honey, then add a pound of sugar cooked to the ball, 236°. Continue beating until it attains 290°. A little of the mixture cooled in water will then crumble between the fingers. At this stage add a pound of sugar cooked to the crack, 310°, a pound of whole blanched almonds, and a few pistachio nuts. Pour the mixture into a dish lined with wafers, making the nougat one inch thick. Cover the top with wafers, and when cold cut it into pieces three inches long and one inch wide. To make wafers, see receipt for gauffres (page [479]); but instead of baking them in the gauffre-iron, spread the mixture as thinly as possible on an oiled paper and dry in a slow oven without coloring.
NOUGAT No. 4 (Bonbons)
Blanch, chop, and dry without coloring one cupful of almonds. Melt one cupful of powdered sugar with one teaspoonful of lemon-juice, stirring all the time. When it is thoroughly melted and a delicate color, turn in the hot almonds. Mix them together and turn into an oiled tin. Press down the nougat evenly, leaving it an inch thick. Cut it in inch squares before it becomes hard. This nougat has only enough sugar to bind the nuts together.
BURNT ALMONDS
Put a cupful of brown sugar into a saucepan with a very little water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil a minute, then throw in a half cupful of almonds and stir over the fire until the sugar granulates and is a little browned. When the nuts are well coated, and before they get into one mass, turn them out and separate any that have stuck together.
SUGARED ALMONDS
Put a cupful of granulated sugar in a saucepan with a little water. Stir until it is dissolved, then let it cook to the ball stage without touching except to test. Turn in a half cupful of blanched almonds and stir off the fire until the nuts are well covered with the granulated sugar, but turn them out before they become one mass. Boil another cupful of sugar to the ball, turn in the coated almonds and stir again in the same way, giving them a second coating of sugar, but not leaving them in the pan until they are all stuck together. The nuts may be given a third coating in the same way, if a larger size is wanted.
For pink almonds, add a little carmine to the sugar just before putting in the almonds for the last coating. Any flavoring desired may also be added at this time.