![Rosca de Reyes](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/12/28/multimedia/28ROSCArex-kvlg/28ROSCArex-kvlg-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Rosca de Reyes
Christina Morales, Caroline Lange, La Monarca Bakery
148 ratings with an average rating of 3 out of 5 stars
148
About 2 hours
Advertisement
Prepare the pan: Lightly coat the inside of an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil spray. Line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, smoothing to eliminate air bubbles, then lightly spray the parchment paper. Set the pan aside.
Toast the nuts: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Scatter the pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, tossing once, until they’re golden and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees, then remove the pistachios from the oven, and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. If needed, wrap loosely in a clean kitchen towel and rub off as much of their skins as you can. Turn off the oven, and return the baking sheet to the still-warm oven to keep the nuts warm.
Prepare to make the nougat: Combine the egg whites, 1 tablespoon/13 grams sugar and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the corn syrup, remaining 1¼ cups/250 grams sugar and ¼ cup/57 grams water, and set aside. Fill a glass with water, place a pastry brush inside, and set aside.
Cook and stream in the honey: Place the honey in a separate small saucepan and clip a candy thermometer to the side. Bring the honey to a boil over medium heat and cook, swirling the saucepan occasionally. When the honey reaches 235 degrees, turn the mixer on medium-low and beat the egg white mixture until the whites are broken up, about 20 seconds, then increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the mixture forms medium peaks, about 1 minute. When the honey registers 248 degrees, remove the saucepan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium-high, very slowly stream the honey into the egg white mixture, pouring it down the side of the bowl and avoiding the whisk to prevent splatter. Continue to beat on medium-high until the mixer bowl is warm (not hot) to the touch.
Meanwhile, cook and stream in the sugar: While the egg white mixture is whipping, set the saucepan with the sugar mixture over medium-high heat and stir gently with a heatproof spatula just until sugar dissolves to form a clear syrup, about 2 minutes. Let the mixture come to a boil and use the wet pastry brush to brush down the sides of the saucepan to dissolve any stuck-on sugar crystals. (Don’t forget to check the egg white mixture and turn off the mixer whenever necessary.) Clip the candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan (it’s OK if it’s coated in honey), reduce the heat to medium and boil the mixture without stirring, occasionally swirling the saucepan, until it registers 310 degrees, then remove from the heat immediately. With the mixer running on medium-high speed, stream the sugar mixture into the bowl just as you did the honey. Once you’ve added all of the sugar mixture, increase the speed to high and continue to beat until the sides of the bowl are warm but not hot and the mixture is very thick, dense and voluminous, about 4 minutes (the mixer might strain against the mixture).
Finish the nougat: Turn off the mixer, add the melted coconut oil or cocoa butter and vanilla to the bowl, and beat on high just until the nougat is smooth. (The mixture will separate but then come back together, which is normal.) Turn off the mixer and remove the bowl. Remove the nuts from the oven and add to the bowl, then fold the nougat with a large flexible spatula until the nuts are evenly distributed. Scrape the nougat into the prepared pan and smooth the surface, working it into an even layer all the way to the sides and corners. Cover the nougat with a piece of parchment paper sprayed with more oil and smooth, then let it sit at room temperature until it’s completely set, at least 6 hours but preferably overnight.
Cut the nougat: Uncover the nougat and use the parchment paper to lift it out of the pan and transfer it to a cutting board. Use a serrated or chef’s knife coated in vegetable oil spray to cut the slab into quarters in one direction, then slice each third crosswise into ½-inch pieces to make about 50 pieces.
I tried this (solo) last night. It's possible to coordinate everything, but takes a lot of concentration. I found that mine was delicious, but not as firm as I would have liked. I didn't quite have enough pistachios, but figured it would be ok with a higher nougat: pistachio recipe. I don't think that's where I went wrong.
I have now made this 5 times. Some thoughts: 1. Edible paper on the bottom. When I was a kid, nougat came on edible paper. You can eat it or peel it off. It can even be decorated with food safe colors. 2. Spray oil tastes bad. I buttered the sides, used edible paper on the bottom and top. 3. Boil the heck out of the honey and sugar mixtures. Don't miss the temps by even a little. Use an instant read thermometer, and don't touch the bottom of the pan.
Almonds are a good substitute for pistachios when making nougat candy.
I’d love to see a recipe for the traditional Spanish nougat, known as Turrón, which has almonds in it. Surely it is somewhat similar to this, but with almond meal?
Almonds and hazelnuts are both common - and tasty - in nougat.
There is a video on NYT Cooking youtube channel! Search "Make Holiday Candy with Clair Saffitz".
This recipe was so delicious! PSA: watch the YouTube video before making this. I think it just depends on your kitchen temperature, but my egg white mixture took much longer to reach medium peaks. When my thermometer in the honey hit 248, the eggs were still frothy. Could be why some people ended up with a goopy end product? Keep mixing those egg whites until you get medium peaks. Can't wait to make again!
Probably the issue that got missed was that it takes three cuts to make four quarters. I imagine that the division of the nougat slab is not a huge deal and that the final quantity/size of the pieces will end up more a personal preference.
I imagine that they altered the recommended cuts in the recipe from fourths to thirds, and then failed to update "quarters" when editing, because 8" / .5" = 16. 16*3=48, "to make about 50 pieces." But, as L mentions, you can probably get away with whatever width cut you want.
This looks very similar to Iranian Gaz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaz_(candy)
These turned out perfect. The texture of the nougat is wonderful. I did use more like a cup of pistachios. Have everything measured out and warn the people in your home to not speak to you while this is happening, and then just focus and follow the directions and all will work out. I watched the video for tricky parts and that was helpful as well. Rave reviews all around.
I made one batch last night. Mixture was too gooey so I saved the pistachios for a new batch today. I’m pretty sure my sugar mixture did not get hot enough last night, hence it the nougat didn’t set. Tonight I made sure the sugar came up to the right 310 temp and it’s much much thicker tonight. Todays batch will def. set firmer due to better (thicker and hotter) sugar. And yes, this is exactly like the Iranian candy I grew up with called GAZ! Very happy to find this recipe.
In the end, this was absolutely delicious, but mine also came out too gooey. What salvaged these is rolling them into balls while dusting my hands with powered sugar and then dipping into tempered chocolate. I used the lightly salted shelled pistachios for lack of a better option, worked out great!
This was sensational. Followed directions, prepped all ingredients, focused like a zen master and viola! Amazing result. Not too gooey at all, used an oiled knife to cut and wrapped in small pieces of parchment which came off easily. Not sure where others went wrong, I will be making this again, and again, and again….
Delicious! I have never made nougat before, but this recipe came out beautifully for me. It helped to watch Claire’s video on the NYTimes Cooking YouTube channel before staging my ingredients and setting up my space. My candy thermometer was just a tiny bit off, so I’m glad I tested it in boiling water before getting started and adjusted the readings I was looking for by a couple of degrees. Thanks so much for the wonderful video and detail-oriented instructions!
Did anyone make this with butter instead of coconut oil? As others have suggested, it seems like it *should* be ok...
Watched the video and read the recipe through several times. I also tested my thermometer with boiling water as someone recommended in the comments above (turns out mine is 6 degrees off). The recipe requires some good coordination but it turned out perfectly and I’m so happy with it. It’s definitely meant to be a soft style nougat, you can see this in the video when Claire is cutting it up. 10/10 would make again.
Flavour is spot on. Texture, however, is not quite there. Even when the sugar and honey are cooked multiple degrees higher than the recipe calls for. I ended up baking the nougat for approximately two hours at 180F and then let the slab to set again overnight. Texture problem solved.
Somehow I lost the volume in the middle stage after adding in the honey. End result was delicious but not the super soft night I was hoping for. I did make sure my temperatures were spot on. Is over whipping the egg whites a possibility even though it looked ok before adding in the sugar mixtures? Any idea where I went wrong?
I love nougat but have never attempted to make it. But this recipe is so well written — clear, concise, anticipating my questions — that I have to congratulate Ms. Saffitz on her technical-writing skills. She’s inspired me to make nougat at last!
Has anyone tried to keep these longer than just a week like the recipe says?
any tips on how to make it harder please?
This is delicious however a bit too soft to handle well, a slightly harder set would be preferable especially when trying to wrap/pack individual pieces. Would try again possibly with increasing the sugar temp to a bit over what is recommended.
I have now made this 5 times. Some thoughts: 1. Edible paper on the bottom. When I was a kid, nougat came on edible paper. You can eat it or peel it off. It can even be decorated with food safe colors. 2. Spray oil tastes bad. I buttered the sides, used edible paper on the bottom and top. 3. Boil the heck out of the honey and sugar mixtures. Don't miss the temps by even a little. Use an instant read thermometer, and don't touch the bottom of the pan.
Rather gooey. Had to freeze to make a firmer texture
Any idea if this would work out if I left out the corn syrup and replaced it with the same amount of honey?
It's been 6 months since you posted this but I tried subbing honey for the corn syrup tonight and it worked!
I had trouble getting the sugar hot enough without it burning. It burnt twice and on the third try I heated it only until it started to catch. The nougat still turned out but I think it was softer than it should have been.
These turned out perfect. The texture of the nougat is wonderful. I did use more like a cup of pistachios. Have everything measured out and warn the people in your home to not speak to you while this is happening, and then just focus and follow the directions and all will work out. I watched the video for tricky parts and that was helpful as well. Rave reviews all around.
I made one batch last night. Mixture was too gooey so I saved the pistachios for a new batch today. I’m pretty sure my sugar mixture did not get hot enough last night, hence it the nougat didn’t set. Tonight I made sure the sugar came up to the right 310 temp and it’s much much thicker tonight. Todays batch will def. set firmer due to better (thicker and hotter) sugar. And yes, this is exactly like the Iranian candy I grew up with called GAZ! Very happy to find this recipe.
This looks very similar to Iranian Gaz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaz_(candy)
Advertisement