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Calissons

Calissons are a sweet from Provence - Aix-en-Provence is famous for them - made with almonds and candied fruit, covered with royal icing. This is a slightly simplified version, which is every bit as good.

109,590 53.9/5 for 12 ratings

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Last modified on: February 12^th 2012

For 20 Calissons, you will need:

0 50 g Candied grapefruit peel
1 100 g ground almonds
2 80 g icing sugar
3 1 egg white
4 1 sheet of rice (wafer) paper
5 125 g Royal icing
Total weight: 388 grams

Change these quantities to make: 10 Calissons 20 Calissons 40 Calissons 60 Calissons

Change measures: Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Start to finish
1 hour 28 min.	1 hour 28 min.

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 5 min.

Chop 50 g Candied grapefruit peel using food processor to produce small pieces of peel.

Stage 2 - 2 min.

Stop the processor, then add 100 g ground almonds and 80 g icing sugar.

Stage 3 - 3 min.

Switch on again and add the egg white a spoonful at a time until you have a smooth paste - calisson paste.

Stage 4 - 2 min.

Spread the calisson paste out roughly on a sheet of rice paper laid on a chopping board.

Put the paste between two rulers 1cm (0.4 inch) thick, simple iron bars in this case, but use anything you like (wood, plastic...).

Stage 5 - 1 min.

Place a sheet of cooking parchment on top of the paste.

Stage 6 - 5 min.

Roll out the paste, guided by the rules either side, into a very even sheet.

Stage 7 - 15 min.

Cut out the calissons with a cutter, pressing down really hard (I give a light hammer blow on the top) so that you also cut through the rice paper underneath.

Stage 8 - 15 min.

Gather all the offcuts of paste, roll out again on the remaining piece of rice paper and cut out more.

Continue unti you have used up all the calisson paste.

Stage 9 - 10 min.

Prepare 125 g Royal icing.

Stage 10

Dip the top of the calisson (the side without rice paper) in royal icing. You can stick it on a fork to make this easier, but this isn't essential.

Stage 11 - 30 min.

Wipe off any excess icing on the sides with your finger and place the calisson on a baking sheet.

You will notice how, after a few seconds, the royal icing becomes smooth once the calisson is laid flat.

Do this with all the calissons.

Stage 12

Leave to dry exposed to the air for 2 days, until the royal icing turns hard.

Your calissons are ready.

Remarks

Traditional calissons normally contain candied melon and orange.

If you are in a hurry, rather than waiting for 2 days, you can dry the calissons in a cool oven at 50°C (122°F) until the royal icing forms a crust.

Keeping:

2 or 3 weeks in an airtight tin.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
1,308 Kcal or 5,476 Kj	22 gr	216 gr	55 gr
65 %	8 %	20 %	8 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
337 Kcal or 1,411 Kj	6 gr	56 gr	14 gr
17 %	2 %	5 %	2 %

Per piece
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
65 Kcal or 272 Kj	1 gr	11 gr	3 gr
3 %	<1 %	1 %	<1 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 20 Calissons : 5.82 €
Per Calissons : 0.29 €

Change currency:

Note : These prices are only approximate.

Source

Home made. This recipe is dedicated to my grandmother Solange, who introduced me to the calissons of Aix.

More recipes?

This recipe uses (among others)

	Royal icing: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example:
	Ground almonds: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée), Arlesian Biscuits, Almonds pyramids, Marzipan (almond paste), Strawberry and rhubarb crumble, ... All
	Icing sugar: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Cigarettes Russes (Piroulines), Linzer torte, Financier batter, Walnut paste, Almond cream or frangipane, ... All
	Candied grapefruit peel: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Brioche royale, Chocolate thins with toasted nuts, Grapefruit moelleux, Chocolate mendiants, Chocolate cream with a crunch, irish coffee mousse, ... All

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Your 5 comments or questions on this recipe

Thank you jh
Posted by Buckaroo september 24^th 2017 at 14:57 (n° 5)
This is not exactly the same rice paper like the one used in spring rolls or nems, it's a bit thicker.
In France it's call "azym paper" (try to google that around you).
Anyway if you cant's find this special one, traditional rice paper is a good second option.
Posted by jh september 18^th 2017 at 09:47 (n° 4)
Where do you get square rice paper? Or can you use the more available round, that are use for spring rolls? Or is this something different?

Posted by Buckaroo september 17^th 2017 at 15:43 (n° 3)
About 60 g.
Posted by jh january 14^th 2013 at 17:53 (n° 2)
How many grams of grapefruit peel will you get from one grapefruit?
Posted by bob january 14^th 2013 at 00:08 (n° 1)

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