I have another batch of almonds dehydrating in the Breville to replenish my supply of chocolate covered almonds. I'm gonna try a Martha Stewart twist this time. >She roasts the almonds for about 10 minutes to make them crispy, then cooks them in a cinnamon/sugar/water mixture to put a glaze on them. >They go in the fridge for the glaze to set up. >Then they get tossed with melted chocolate. >Back in the fridge for the chocolate to set up. >Finally tossed with some Dutch cocoa or confectioner's sugar. I'm gonna go with the Dutch cocoa, since I'm already adding a sugar glaze, although I might dust one or two with the 10x to see how they taste. She says these keep for a month at room temp in an airtight container, but I've kept the chocolate covered ones in the fridge for several months. I can't see these going bad under refrigeration. Some of her recipes seem to be all over the place. The one I transcribed from a video called for 10 oz. of almonds. When I went to confirm some steps, I found a written recipe for 14 oz. of almonds but the exact same quantity of sugar/cinnamon/water. I think jail messed with her head.
Almonds are ready!!! That batch is 1/2 of a 25 oz. bag of raw almonds ($8.90 for the whole bag) and (2) 3.5 ounce chocolate bars ($2.25 each), plus the 1 1/2 cups sugar. So a batch this size of regular homemade chocolate covered almonds is just under $9. There was some amount of melted chocolate (a few TB) and sugar (maybe 1/4 cup) remaining in this recipe. I started eating chocolate covered almonds a long time ago because they are a heart-healthy snack, especially when coated with dark chocolate. I started making my own because I could not find any that had a chocolate I liked. So I buy raw almonds online, and melt together a high cacao (90%) chocolate bar and a medium cacao (70%) chocolate bar...usually Lindt, Ghirardelli or even Sam's Club. I recently started soaking/dehydrating the almonds before coating them to make them more digestible (kills the enzyme inhibitors) and less "mealy." Martha's addition of the cinnamon/sugar candy coating and the Dutch cocoa powder certainly tastes good, as does her added step of roasting the almonds in an oven to add a depth of flavor (I air-fried them immediately after dehydrating.) I know that the Dutch cocoa powder adds some health benefits (not as much as regular cocoa, though it's still incremental nutrition), but I'm not certain I like the damage done by the candied cinnamon-sugar coating. It adds 1.4 TB of sugar per 1/4 cup serving. One half that serving (the amount I'd likely eat as a snack) is still about 2 teaspoons. I'm not that much of a "sugar person." Next time I'll keep Martha's step of roasting them, and I'll finish them in cocoa powder (I'll see if the regular type is palatable) and omit the cinnamon-sugar glaze. That will keep them a healthy snack. This recipe is more like a candy that's been fortified with some nutritional value. They do taste good, but they are pretty sweet. And the cinnamon-sugar somewhat over powers the almond flavor. I'd do these again as gifts, but not as a daily snack.
Liar, Liar, pants on fire!!! I have a fresh batch of almonds dehydrating as we speak. These things are like crack. I judged too soon. Like so many foods, these are way better after they've sat for a day or so. I only have one dehydrating basket for my oven (there's a manufacturer shortage) so can only do about 12 oz. of almonds at a time. This is frustrating. They take 24 hours to dehydrate, and I could do 3# at once if I had the full capacity of baskets. Plus, I fear these small batches are beating my Breville to death, running it constantly for a full day. I ordered some stainless steel mesh that I might be able to cover the oven racks with to expand dehydrating capacity. (I wish I had thought of it before I started this batch...I could have held off for a couple of days until the mesh arrived.) When I can do larger batches, I'll do 1# plain chocolate coated and 1# candied. But this batch is headed for the cinnamon sugar coating!! This is exactly what I went through when I first tried battered fried asparagus. Going back to steamed was a struggle.
You need to share those almonds with your friends, dude. :whistle: And tonight I'm back to roasted red pepper hummus and pretzel thins. Followed by about a dozen gigantic black cherries that are killer. "Yummo," as Rachel Ray says.
I like Rachel. I'd share the almonds, but until the dehydrator basket supply loosens up, production is limited. BTW: I can't figure out the difference between the baskets on Breville's website. Air Fry Rack @ $13.92 is identical to the one that came with my oven. The Mesh Baskets @ $44.95/3 pak ($14.98/ea) look different but are also for dehydrating/air frying. I put in a Support Request on the Breville website to ask this, but I'm not hopeful. I asked another question a while ago and never got a reply. Maybe they're COVID-bound.
Maybe you should buy a dedicated dehydrator that comes with several shelves. That would save the wear and tear on the Breville. Are the baskets made of the same material? Maybe the cheaper ones are mystery metal and the nicer ones stainless? "Covid-bound," by Simon and Garfunkel...
I tell you what...every time I watch the news I feel COVID-bound. No more commercials or new clips with masked people, please. I would invest in a dehydrator but I have a small home with no basement. I literally have no place for it. It sucks. I've looked at Excaliburs. I'd get some use out of it, especially with making pasta.
Just to close the loop on this: Breville responded: I also asked about beating the thing to death routinely using it as a dehydrator. I was surprised that they answered since it was a subjective quality question, but they did:
Everything is back-ordered. I hope I can respond fast enough to the "In Stock" email I'm supposed to get. Besides, I just dropped $36 on flour! (Older yet wiser, huh?) I'd feel silly pi$$ing over a $3 basket price differential.
I got a dehydrator yesterday, so tried my hand at making fruit leathers: This one is peach. Looks like I got it from the prop department of The Outer Limits. I also made raspberry, and tried to do watermelon. When you make the watermelon, you puree the fruit and then strain the water out through a cheesecloth and use the reserved fruit. Everything ran through the cheesecloth and I had nothing left but a pink rag. I was quite disappointed. I made the remaining ones too thin, I think...more leather than fruit. But I'll eat them. Back to Your Tube to watch other vids on it...
Made some trail mix: -Dehydrated fruits --banana --pineapple --grapes (a.k.a. raisins) --apple --kiwi -coconut flakes (should have toasted them) -dry roasted peanuts, briefly toasted in the air fryer -sunflower seeds, toasted in a cast iron pan -M&Ms It's pretty good.