Today I am trying my hand at making almond flour {recipe to come soon} and it is recommended that you use blanched almonds instead of raw almonds to achieve a smoother texture when baking. Blanching almonds is really easy, and far cheaper than buying them in the shops. A lot of baking recipes call for blanched almonds, so save yourself a few pennies by doing them yourself...

You will need:

-almonds

-boiling water

-collander/strainer

All in all this is going to take you a one whole minute (yup! one minute!) to do!

Simply place your almonds in the boiling water (I was making 2 cups of almond flour and so had rather a lot of almonds, so I did mine in two batches, using the same water for the second batch). Place the almonds in the boiling water for 60 seconds only - any longer and your almonds will start to soften.

Drain the almonds immediately and place onto paper towel to cool. Then the fun part. Peel the skins off, one at a time (or two at a time once you get the hang of it!) the skins will simply 'pop off' leaving you with perfect, cream white almonds to use in your baking. You can discard the skins, or roast them in the oven with your favourite spices (we have only used salt and vinegar so far) to make delicious, virtually fat free, crispy snacks....yum!