What to do with all these almonds?

May 14, 2010 9:30 AM

I bought a very large bag of slivered almonds at Costco, and I've come to accept that there's no way I'm going to work my way through it before the nuts go bad. What are your favorite recipes that use sliced almonds? I'm especially interested in things that your average food-wary child would be willing, if not eager, to eat.
posted by bibliowench to food & drink (43 answers total)

If you refrigerate them they won't go bad as quickly. I think you can even freeze them.
posted by mareli at 9:31 AM on May 14, 2010

Yeah, freeze them.
posted by kookaburra at 9:31 AM on May 14, 2010 [8 favorites]

Throw them on a bed of spinach with bleu cheese crumbles, and diced apple, pear, and mango.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:34 AM on May 14, 2010

Put them in cookies or oatmeal. You could also grind them up and put the powder in smoothies, cereal, etc.
posted by ad4pt at 9:34 AM on May 14, 2010

Slovered almonds are really versatile. You can definitely freeze them, but I throw them in or toss them with:

Oatmeal
Muffins
Couscous
Green beans
Salads
Pilafs or orzo
posted by DrGirlfriend at 9:34 AM on May 14, 2010

If you have a food processor you could grind them up and use them to make Bakewell Tart (which also uses slivered almonds). I'm sure a child would love it - a jammy, cakey dessert.
posted by essexjan at 9:35 AM on May 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Are you willing to grind them up? Ground almonds are nice thickeners in a lot of foods -- you can replace some flour by ground almond (if you also take out some oil/butter) in yogurt cake. You can replace flour with them in just about any non-yeast recipe. You can add them into anything you can normally add nuts to -- quick breads, muffins, etc. You can also make almond butter, which peanut butter fans are often also fans of.
posted by jeather at 9:36 AM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Freeze them. Alternately, grind them up and make almond crescents.
posted by kimdog at 9:36 AM on May 14, 2010

Toffee uses almonds as a primary ingredient.

mmmm....toffee.....
posted by jquinby at 9:37 AM on May 14, 2010

Toffee uses almonds as a primary ingredient.

No, toffe generally doesn't contain almonds. You might be thinking of Knäck or Almond Roca.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 9:44 AM on May 14, 2010

Granola is awesome with sliced almonds in it.

Somolina Halva is also good.
posted by ODiV at 9:45 AM on May 14, 2010

Sorry, should have specified English Toffee, which does.
posted by jquinby at 9:45 AM on May 14, 2010

Almond butter is a legalized version of crack; I make it with a little oil and honey and the almonds, lightly roasted.
posted by Hiker at 9:46 AM on May 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

Horchata. Amaretti. Linzer cookies. All three recipes call for whole blanched almonds, but I have used sliced and slivered without problems.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:50 AM on May 14, 2010

Almondine? You just sautee them in lemon and butter and put them over your fish.

Trout is traditional, but it works with green beans, and pretty much anything that tastes good with lemon and butter on it. Chicken, maybe? Pretty much most sauteed veggies.

If I have it left over I put it on my brown rice and it's very good.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:55 AM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I fairly regularly put a bunch over ice cream. Or if I cook fish with peanut sauces, I'll add a bunch, gives it a nice sutisying crunch.
posted by pyro979 at 9:56 AM on May 14, 2010

Put them in any salad.

Briefly toast them on a dry skillet and add them to a pasta dish.

Mix them into a chilled soup, e.g. cucumber-yogurt soup (plus add some on top).
posted by Jaltcoh at 9:57 AM on May 14, 2010

I use a cup of almonds every time I make biscotti. My kids love it. And, stored properly, it keeps forever.
posted by yawper at 9:59 AM on May 14, 2010

I am a huge fan of pignoli nut cookies, which I make using this recipe for chewy amaretti cookies (which are also good in their own right!). The main base of these cookies is almond paste, which is pretty easy to make from scratch (that recipe is one of hundreds of almond paste recipes on the internet). I bet the cookies would be delicious with toasted slivered almonds on top instead of pignoli nuts.
posted by shamash at 10:00 AM on May 14, 2010

You could make almond milk.
posted by fancyoats at 10:02 AM on May 14, 2010

You could throw a handful into some fresh green beans and lightly steam them.

Alternatively, yes, freezing will work just fine.
posted by amtho at 10:04 AM on May 14, 2010

Making almond milk might be fun.
posted by zamboni at 10:04 AM on May 14, 2010

nthing salad, any cooked greens, rice, anything with pasta, cereal, oatmeal.

the mister and I go through a huge Costco bag of slivered almonds every month or so. Maybe even quicker, I dunno. But then we really, really like almonds.

I add a layer of toasted, slivered almonds to spanikopita, which ups the awesome content to eleven.

also: trail mix.
posted by lonefrontranger at 10:06 AM on May 14, 2010

You could grind the almonds into meal and use it to bread things. And don't forget about baklava!
posted by runningwithscissors at 10:12 AM on May 14, 2010

Copied from an e-mail from my mom:

GINGER SLICES

1 C butter
1 C sugar
1/2 C molasses
1 Tb ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp soda
2 C sliced almonds (6 oz. package)
3 1/4 C flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses, spices, baking soda, and almonds. Stir in flour. Form dough into 4 or 5 long rolls 1 inch in diameter (this is not as easy as it sounds, and the rolls look gross, but soldier on). Chill.

Set oven at 350 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheets.
Slice rolls 1/4 inch thick. Place on prepared cooky sheet 1 inch apart. Bake 8 to 10 minutes (or 11 minutes), or until cookies are firm.
Yield: approximately 60 (very approximately -- I got 214 the last time I made them).
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:18 AM on May 14, 2010

How old and how wary is the child? I go through gobs of nuts by putting them in the little "snack size" zip-lock bags and parcelling them during trips in the car...
posted by kmennie at 10:23 AM on May 14, 2010

Rice Pilaf

Saute 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms and a medium chopped onion and a couple of minced (or pressed) garlic cloves in 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil until onion is wilted. Add 1 cup of raw long-grain rice (basmati is extra good here). Saute rice for 3 minutes until rice is translucent. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and generous handful of slivered almonds. Cover pan with glass cover and turn heat down to medium. Let rice steam for 15 to 20 minutes until you can just see that broth and steam is gone. Lift cover, fluff and season to taste with salt and lots of cracked black pepper. You can serve with a little freshly grated parmesan on top.
posted by marsha56 at 10:24 AM on May 14, 2010

I fairly regularly put a bunch over ice cream.

Toasting them lightly (just throw them in a hot skillet for a couple of minutes, watch for browning) works nice with this, too. Can also smell nice.
posted by gimonca at 10:31 AM on May 14, 2010

This pasta dish will take care of a 1/4 pound in one fell swoop.

Almonds are used quite a bit in traditional Italian cooking. My SilverSpoon cookbook has a quite a listing of various dishes under the "almond" index heading.

(My Costco nut weakness is the big bag of walnuts!).
posted by webhund at 10:34 AM on May 14, 2010

Make a delightful flourless chocolate cake.
posted by special-k at 10:39 AM on May 14, 2010

Apple strudel, together with apples, dried fruit, breadcrumbs, butter and cinnamon. Wrap the mixture in ultra thin filo or puff or even - if you can get it or make it - strudel pastry.
posted by londongeezer at 10:51 AM on May 14, 2010

I am a big fan of this version of coleslaw:

1/2 c slivered almonds
2TBS sesame seeds
1 pkg coleslaw cabbage
1 package ramen noodles (oriental flavor)
rice wine vinegar
sugar
vegetable oil
chopped green onion

toast 1/2 c slivered almonds and 2 TBS sesame seeds until lightly browned
dressing: mix spice packet from ramen with oil, sugar and some rice wine vinegar (I just eyeball these and mix until it has a hint of sweetness - use maybe 1/4c oil tops).
Crush ramen noodles over cabbage. Toss in almonds, sesame seeds and green onion. Toss with dressing just before serving.
posted by koselig at 11:06 AM on May 14, 2010

This lemon-roasted green beans recipe is terrific – I make it whenever I can find very thin, long haricots verts (Costco and Whole Foods carry them year-round). Even better if you use a sweet onion, like Walla Walla, but also good with red onions. I use lemon juice pretty liberally, too.

I'm warning you, it's addictive.
posted by halogen at 11:19 AM on May 14, 2010

Almonnaise - great on sandwiches and for all kinds of dipping. Here's the basic recipe from Marilyn Diamond's American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit For Life Kitchen.

½ cup raw almonds (no skins)
½ – ¾ cups water
1 tsp nutritional yeast
¼ cup cold pressed olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Place almonds in food processor and grind to a fine powder. Add half the water along with the nutritional yeast, garlic and seasoning. Blend well, then start adding the remaining water and continue blending until you have a smooth cream.

2. With food processor running, drizzle in the oil in a thin stream until mixture is very thick.

3. Keep the food processor running and add the lemon juice and vinegar. Blend on low
for one minute longer until the mixture thickens to the desired consistency.

4. Refrigerate.

You can also add herbs, poppy seeds, etc., to taste.
posted by apocry_phil at 11:21 AM on May 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Toast with salt, use as a snack. add to granola/trail mix (see recent ask.me about trail mix). If you make strudel, call me. Strudel is awesome.
posted by theora55 at 12:02 PM on May 14, 2010

Grind them up and make macaroons.
posted by crunchland at 12:37 PM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I can't link to recipes at the moment, but you could make two of my favorite sauces/ dips - romesco (yummy roasted red pepper, garlic, olive oil and almond sauce) or skoldalia (ton of garlic, almonds, olive oil, vinegar and stale bread - you'd want to look for the almond version, not the potato version - blasphemy!).
posted by queseyo at 12:59 PM on May 14, 2010

Museli!

Put oats (however much you want) in a bowl, pour apple juice on top of the oats -- slightly less than it would take to over the oats. Toss in raisins and sliced almonds, refrigerate over night. The next day put some of your museli in a bowl, add sliced banana or apples, some yogurt and voila!

Delicious!
posted by blue_bicycle at 1:43 PM on May 14, 2010

I'm eating them right now, toasted in my toaster oven on a salad with gorgonzola, oranges, cranberries and onions.
posted by Melsky at 1:50 PM on May 14, 2010

Most lentil burger recipes call for some type of nut. I love almonds in mine.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 2:05 PM on May 14, 2010

Clementine Torte - super easy & delicious.
posted by judith at 2:08 PM on May 14, 2010

Make a financier. I just had one the other day at a restaurant, it a little cake made using almonds.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Almond-Cakes-101802
posted by hazyspring at 3:05 PM on May 14, 2010

This garlic, bread and almond soup by Jamie Oliver is absolutely delicious. The recipe calls for whole almonds, but I'm sure slivered would work just fine as you whizz it all up anyway.
posted by schmoo at 4:56 AM on May 15, 2010