Chinese Almond Cream is a dessert that can be eaten piping hot or cold. It’s my favourite chinese dessert. I almost always order this when dining in a chinese restaurant. It has a heady scent of almonds and when prepared correctly, taste rich and creamy.
In reality, this dessert contains no almonds whatsoever. Why is it referred to as “Almond Cream”? I have no idea. Every Chinese restaurant menu and every recipe for this dessert that I have come across has always referred to it as “Almond Cream” so I will stick to calling this dessert Almond Cream. Surprisingly, it tastes and smells very much like those Italian biscuits, amaretti which are made from almonds.
What is Almond Cream made from then? I use just 3 ingredients. Chinese apricot kernels, water and sugar. Most recipes will have you add rice as an ingredient as it serves to thicken the texture. My recipe doesn’t require it as I have worked out a good apricot kernels to water ratio that produces both a creamy and flavourful bowl of Almond Cream.
You add the amount of sugar to suit your taste and whilst traditionally rock sugar is used, you can use white sugar or sugar substitutes but keep it to a clear coloured sugar and please do not use brown sugar or honey. The latter two alters the look and taste of the dessert too much.
Where do you buy Chinese apricot kernels?
You have to get them from a Chinese grocery store. The apricot kernels that health food stores sells are not the same. If you have access to a Traditional Chinese Medicine store, they should have plenty in stock and they will always carry two varieties of Chinese apricot kernels: bitter and sweet. These two kinds are always used for Almond Cream. Whilst bitter and sweet kernels taste pretty much the same, the bitter variety (which by the way looks almost identical to the sweet variety except to the trained eye), is distinctly sharper in taste and we use only a small amount. Chinese apricot kernels are always cooked before consuming. I would not eat them straight from the bag.
Chinese Almond Cream
| Prep: | ~20 – 30 minutes |
| Cook: | ~12 – 20 minutes |
| Inactive: | ~1 – 6 hours should you wish to soak the apricot kernels. Soaking just softens the kernels to make grinding easier. |
| Level: | Easy but labour intensive. |
| Makes: | ~8 cups (2 litres). If each serving is 1/2 cup, you would get 16 servings. |
| Oven Temperature: | – |
| Can recipe be doubled? | – |
| Make ahead? | Keeps well up to 3 days. Taste better on the second day. |
Ingredients1 cup =8.45 US fl oz =250ml 1.32 lbs (600g) sweet chinese apricot kernels which are more commonly referred to as “Sweet Chinese Almonds/South Chinese Almonds/Nan Xin” even if they aren’t almonds* * If you have access to a Traditional Chinese Medicine store, they will certainly have the kernels in stock. If not, try a Chinese or Asian grocery store. As I explained in my introduction these “Chinese Almonds” are in fact, apricot kernels. ** Buy from Chinese or Asian grocery stores. I find that rock sugar has a cleaner, lighter taste as compared to granulated sugar. What do I mean? Think the difference in taste profile between brown and white sugar. |
Method
Soak apricot kernels (optional)
1. Wash and drain sweet and bitter Chinese apricot kernels.
2. Cover with water (they won’t expand by much) and soak for ~1 – 6 hours. Soaked any longer and most of the taste would have been diluted. Soaking softens the kernels and makes it easier to grind. Skip soaking if you haven’t the time.
Grind apricot kernels and squeeze (first squeeze)
1. Hang a colander, draped with a cheese cloth or something similar over a deep bowl. Set aside.
2. If you have a good grinder, grinding will be a breeze. You need to grind the kernels into a very fine ground – like a paste or body scrub.
3. If the kernels had been soaking, drain and discard water.
4. Have 4 cups (1 litre) of water next to grinder.
5. To start, add a small amount of kernels to grinder and enough water from the 4 cups (1 litre) water to cover slightly over kernels. Use short burst of power to roughly chop up kernels. I find that this initial process, helps me to grind the rest of the kernels easily – at least it does on my grinder. Then, depending on your grinder and the volume it can hold, add all or partial amounts of the kernels and water as required to grind kernels into a smooth paste. Make sure you use up all of the 4 cups (1 litre) water.
6. Transfer ground kernels to the cheese cloth lined colander.
7. Gather up cheese cloth and squeeze apricot kernel milk out. Ok, it isn’t milk but I am going to refer to it as “milk” for ease of reference.
8. Transfer the “squeezed-out” grounds into a mixing bowl.
9. When you have finished squeezing milk from all the grounds, move on to the next step below.
Second squeeze
1. Pour 4 cups (1 litre) water over apricot kernels.
2. Following the directions above, Steps 6 – 8, squeeze kernels again for milk.
3. Discard ground kernels.
A final sieve of the apricot kernel “milk”
1. If you have a fine mesh sieve (very tiny holes), use it to strain milk of any remaining grounds.
2. If not, rinse out cheese cloth and the colander. Squeeze cloth dry and drape over colander. Place colander into pot where you will be boiling milk in. Pour milk into pot. Squeeze cloth for any remaining milk. Discard kernel grounds if any.
Boil, simmer and add sugar
1. Over medium-high heat, bring “milk” to a boil. Stir to avoid burning. Depending on how high your heat has been set to, this process can take ~7 – 15 minutes.
2. As soon as it comes to a boil, the milk will very quickly attempt to boil over. Don’t move from the stove and be prepared to lower temperature to medium to bring milk to a simmer.
3. Continue stirring and simmer ~5- 10 minutes.
4. During the last minute of cooking, add sugar and stir to melt. Taste and adjust sweetness to your liking.
To serve
1. Serve hot or cold.
2. This dessert taste best if left overnight (refrigerated).
3. As this dessert cools, it will thicken and might look shockingly clumpy. Just stir whatever clumps there might be back in. They would inevitably break up.
4. Keep in mind that those clumps would most certainly break up once the dessert is heated up (I like mine served piping hot) as heat loosens up its thick consistency. If you are serving it cold, it is fine to dilute the dessert with a few teaspoons of water to the consistency that you like.
Tips
Make ahead party dessert to feed many
This is a perfect make ahead dessert, up to 3 days! And, this recipe makes 16 servings!
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