Soft Turron de Jijona Recipe

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, there is no doubt about that. The decorated houses, the vacations where the family gathers and enjoys together, it is a magical moment without a doubt.

However, at the gastronomic level, there are times when we find it difficult to encourage ourselves to cook the typical Christmas recipes that are more complex. 

Many people are afraid to make homemade turron de Jijona because they think it is impossible, and they just buy them in the store. Honestly, this is an easy Spanish dessert.

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In this article, we will show you how you can make the fantastic turron de Jijona so that you stop buying it in the store and enjoy the taste of a good homemade nougat. 

From the changes you can make to the ingredients, to ways to save and serve, you will find everything here.

Background of the Dish

Many people only think of Spanish cookie recipes when they imagine the Andalusian sweet recipes that are eaten at this time of year. 

In any case, the turron de Jijona is the original star of the Christmas cuisine of southern Spain.

There are records of this recipe that date all the way back to the 16th century, and even from previous times. 

It was created by the Spanish from the south and the Arabs who arrived in the region since it mixes ingredients and cooking methods from both parts of the world.

This dessert was prepared during the winter, and with its amount of sugar, it was very easy to keep it stored for a long time.

 In this way, the Andalusians had the nougat as if they were nutritional bars to survive the cold winter days.

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Things You’ll Need for Turron de Jijona

If you are looking to make this Turron, you only need a couple of key ingredients: sugar, egg white, almonds, and honey. With these, you will have the necessary base for the Jijona nougat.

Then, when it comes to equipment, a good skillet, and a wooden spoon will be your best allies to make this turron recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups (300 g) ground Marcona almonds
• 1/2 cup (200g) honey
• 1/2 cup (100g) Sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 lemon zest (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

How to Make Turron de Jijona- Step by Step Guide

1. To start making this turrón recipe, you have to toast the ground almonds in a skillet over medium heat. It’s best to buy them ground, but you can grind them in a food processor. Stir until it gets evenly toasted.

2. Put the 200 grams of honey together with the sugar to heat slowly in a saucepan. Stir with a wooden spoon until a single homogeneous mixture remains and remove from heat.

3. The next step is one of the most important in this Spanish nougat recipe because you have to beat the white of an egg and integrate it with the previous mixture. Keep beating and in this process, some lumps will form, so stir until they all disappear.

4. Then add the almond together with the lemon zest, only the yellow part (it’s optional but it gives it just the right flavor). Move energetically until you get a fairly thick mass that can be worked with.

5. Next, put the mixture in some type of mold, add the cinnamon powder on top and cover it with plastic wrap and some weight on top so that it stays well pressed. 
6. Finally, you will have to wait about 6 hours until the turron Blando cools down to be able to eat it.

Substitution of Ingredients

Although something that makes this recipe a fan favorite is the few ingredients it uses, this can also become a disadvantage. 

As with other turron recipes, with this one, you won’t be able to play much with the ingredients.

Egg white, honey, sugar, and almonds cannot be missing to make this recipe. You can choose to use other types of almonds, or grind them yourself, but you can’t skip them.

What you can do to differentiate it from other Spanish candies

is to add other textures. For example, you can add whole almonds to the mix, so they have a crunch when people bite into them.

Something that is done in some houses is to do something similar to a coating like the one on churros. 

This is adding cinnamon sugar to the top of the nougat, but it is very sweet so we don’t recommend it unless you have a sweet tooth.

You can dip turron bars into melted chocolate and drizzle a bit of chocolate on top. It would be quite delicious, especially with dark chocolate.

And you can even make a Spanish chocolate turron if you are a chocolate lover.

Tips on Serving Turron de Jijona

Like most of the soft nougat recipes, the Jijona nougat is usually eaten at Christmas, either for breakfast, dessert, or as a snack for when the guests come.

Anyway, it’s so delicious that we couldn’t eat it on just one day a year. You cheer up and serve it at any time, people will love it. 

The Spanish turron can be cut into small or large pieces, so you can adapt it according to the time of day (smaller if it’s a snack or dessert, bigger if it’s breakfast, etc).

You can serve it together with Turron de Alicante and Spanish marzipan cookies at any time you receive guests during December so that they already begin to feel the flavor of Christmas.

And if you want to try another authentic Spanish dessert, the easy panellets recipe is a must-try.

How to Store Turron de Jijona

Although this nougat can be stored in different ways, it has some differences concerning the storage of other Hispanic desserts.

In the case of Jijona nougat, it should always be kept in the fridge. 

Even though it has a lot of sugar and other natural preservatives, you will still have to keep it in the cold of the refrigerator.

There it can last up to 7 days. When you make the recipe for the first time, you should store it in the fridge for 6 hours until it reaches the desired temperature and consistency.

You will not be able to freeze this nougat, nor can you store it at room temperature. 

If you were looking for Spanish desserts that can be stored like this then you should try the Apple empanadas or the honey-glazed pestinos.

Recipe Card: Turron de Jijona

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