Ingredients

• 400g blanched almonds

• 50g green pistachios, unsalted

• 300g lavender honey

• 250g sugar

• 60g glucose syrup

• 80g water

• 2 egg whites (60g)

• 1 tbsp sugar (whites)

• 1 vanilla pod

• 2 sheets of wafer paper (pain azyme), 20x20cm

Further Improvements

• Not tried yet. Not whipped or dried enough, it stays soft and sticky. Syrup too hot, it’s hard as rock.

• The Montélimar rules ask for at least 30% almonds (here ~38%), 2% pistachios (~5%), and honey at least 25% of the sweeteners (~50%).

• Keep it in an airtight box, it softens on humid days.

Directions

• Roast the almonds at 150°C for 15-20 minutes, until roasted to the core. Keep them warm in the oven at 100°C with the pistachios, cold nuts would set the nougat too early.

• Put a 20x20cm frame on a wafer sheet on a baking sheet.

• Heat the honey to 120°C.

• In another saucepan, boil the sugar, glucose and water to 145°C.

• When the honey reaches about 110°C, whip the whites with the tablespoon of sugar to firm peaks.

• Pour the hot honey in a thin stream into the whites while whipping.

• Then pour the sugar syrup the same way and keep whipping.

• Keep whipping for 10-15 minutes, ideally with the paddle, heating the bowl with a hair dryer or a blowtorch. It’s ready when it’s very thick and a bit dropped in cold water is firm.

• Add the vanilla seeds, then the warm nuts with a spatula, quickly.

• Spread it in the frame, cover with the second wafer sheet and press it flat with a rolling pin.

• Let it set for 12 hours at room temperature in a dry place.

• Cut it with a large knife dipped in hot water.