Page 347 - YC Cooking School

Sweet Treats

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Tips and tricks for perfect homemade nougat

A bit about nougat
Nougat is a sweet treat made with varying ratios of sugar syrup, whipped egg whites and
usually honey and nuts – or, as Sarah likes to think of it, it's what you get when
marshmallows and meringues fall in love.

Various places claim nougat as their own, including Italy, France and even countries in the
Middle East. You’ll find it in different textures – either soft and gooey, or harder and more
brittle, similar to Middle Eastern halwa. This texture is dependent on the temperature of the
sugar syrup during preparation.

Nougat is often presented in edible rice paper, but you can also use simple baking paper.

It all starts with a sugar syrup

Working with sugar syrups can be a daunting prospect, as sugar has a bit of a reputation for
being cranky in the kitchen. If you're not careful, it can crystallise easily, leaving you with a
pot full of coarse, hard sugar. It doesn't have to be messy though. Here are a few top tips on
how best to handle melting sugar and sugar syrups.

Get your ingredients in line

It’s very important to have all your ingredients ready to go. You don’t want to be fumbling
about, weighing and measuring, when you have hot sugar on the boil. It’s also a good idea
at this point to lay out your rice paper on a lightly greased dish.

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