NOUGAT DE MONTéLIMAR

Steps:

• Roast the almonds and pistachios: here's our method but generally speaking spread them out on a baking sheet and put them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to make sure they toast evenly.
• Spray the pan with cooking spray and line it with the wafer paper.
• In a bain marie or double boiler (our method is to fill a medium saucepan a third full of water and then place a smaller saucepan within that one. The bottom of the small pan sits in the water that is being heated) heat the honey, stirring constantly. In another pan, heat the sugar, aiming for 250-265°F. Once it reaches the right temperature, add it to the honey (being careful not to burn yourself!). Keep the heat constant and continue to stir the mixture until it reaches 280-290°F.
• In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks (see a visual guide to this here) and then add the honey/sugar mixture a little at a time and carefully (this is where the bees inundated us). The mixture should begin to thicken almost immediately as it cools. Keep the mixer at medium to high (our KitchenAid had to battle the thickness of the ball of nougat). This is where you're beating all the air and fluffy chewiness into the candy. It will begin to form a ball around the beater and have the consistency of a very thick chocolate chip cookie dough with the stickiness of taffy after 6-8 minutes. At this point add the warm nuts and the powdered sugar.
• As soon as the nuts have been mixed into the batter, pour it into the prepared pan. It will be thick and you might need an extra hand to get it out. Try coating a wooden spoon with cooking spray to help with the stickiness. Smooth the batter and cover it with a sheet of wafer paper. Use a rolling pin to smooth out the pan, the candy will begin to harden almost immediately so get it smooth as quickly as you can, it won't ever be perfect, that's the nice rustic quality you're going for. Allow it to cool overnight or, if you're in a hurry, for at least 3 hours.
• Once cool, unmold the nougat onto a cutting board and slice through in strips and then slice those into the desired size. Wrap the pieces in cellophane or wax paper and they'll last quite a while.
• You can also experiment with adding chocolate chunks, currants, lemon peel, other kinds of nuts, etc. This is just the classic recipe that you can use as a jumping off point.