poudre d'amandes

[hala]

what is it, and where can i buy some in MTL?

I need it for a macaron recipe.

thanks in advance :)

[carswell]

It's just ground almonds. You'll find them at many grocery stores and other merchants that sell nuts; they go stale quickly, so best to buy them where there's a good turnover. If you have a food processor, you can grind blanched almonds yourself.

[kpzoo]

I forget where you're located, but Akhavan has ground almonds in packages next to the frozen-foods section. I've always found them to be fresh there, but keep leftovers in the freezer.

[NickMontreal]

Actually I believe what the OP is referring to is almond flour, as opposed to almond meal. This is indeed harder to come by, and it is absolutely essential for Parisian style macaroons. The fine consistency of almond flour is what gives the macaron that beautiful smooth surface.

That is not to say that the same effect can not be achieved with almond meal. You can not pulse it in a food processor on it's own, as it releases the oil in the almonds, causing the meal to clump together and become pasty. However, if you pulse it in a food processor with the icing sugar (called for in all macaron recipes), the mixture remains dry, and you can achieve a finer texture, due to the fact that icing sugar contains about 3% cornstarch, which absorbs the moisture released during blending.

As the almond flour and icing sugar are added simulaneously to the egg whites in most recipes, it is fine for them to be combined in this manner.

It is also a good idea to sieve the mixture twice before adding it to the whites...

Incidentally, I made a good batch of chocolate macaroons using this method only a few days ago. It's a lot of fun. Have a good time!

[carswell]

While you may well be right about what the recipe is calling for, the French do distinguish between poudre d'amandes and farine d'amandes. Ground almonds is the standard translation for the former (almond meal is correct, too, but much less common), almond flour for the latter.

You're definitely right that, when grinding nuts in a food processor, there's always a danger of producing nut butter. Besides or instead of adding icing sugar, it also helps to coarsely chop the nuts by hand and freeze them before processing and to process by pulsing and regularly scraping the bowl and fluffing the nut meal. If one were going to grind a lot of nuts, a dedicated nut grinder would probably be a worthwhile investment.

[NickMontreal]

"It also helps to coarsely chop the nuts by hand and freeze them before processing and to process by pulsing and regularly scraping the bowl and fluffing the nut meal"

Sounds like a good tip, will definitely try that.

There's certainly a lot of confusion over the taxonomy of ground almonds. Almond pastes too... even before the whole English and French distinctions come into the equation! It's important to know though that for perfect macarons, almond meal just doesn't cut it unless it's made much finer.

[hala]

i love you guys. you always have the answers:)

I live in verdun, so i will try marche atwater, but i wanted to make sure i knew what i was looking for first. i have used ground almond before but i don't think i have ever seen almond flour.

will let you know if i manage to find the ingredients and try the recipe.

btw sorry my posts are now mostly short and ubrupt. It is hard to type while holding a baby.