My Top Secret Almond Roca Recipe!

This particular almond roca recipe is the easiest and simplest to make! I started making almond roca about 10 years ago when my dear friend Sara Hammerman shared her recipe with me. I began making it for friends and family as Christmas gifts  and I suddenly had a big hit on my hands. Who doesn’t love almond roca???

My Top Secret Almond Roca Recipe!

I only drag out this recipe for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas so I thought it would be especially fitting to share my coveted recipe with all of my readers and everyone who’s ever had my almond roca but for whom I haven’t had the opportunity to make it in a while…so here it is with all my love…

My Top Secret Almond Roca Recipe!

Note #1: If you have a loved one who is allergic to nuts you can make the roca with cashews. Cashews are not nuts, they are the seeds of the cashew apple so ask the person if they can have cashews and if so cashews work perfectly as a substitute.

Note #2: This recipe is a candy making recipe so you will want to purchase a candy thermometer and use it for the first couple of times you make this recipe. Also, you will be bringing your candy to what is called the “hard crack” stage and this is what you will need your candy thermometer for. Joy of Baking has a wonderful index for the different stages of candy making that you can view here. Let’s get started!

First, prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper lining the bottom of the entire sheet.

Next, set a butter knife or if you have it, an offset icing spatula and your cup of chocolate chips next to the prepared baking sheet.

Set a 2 quart, heavy bottomed, stainless steel pan on the stove. Put the butter, almonds and sugar in and turn burner to medium low heat. Keep an eye on pan and occasionally stir the mixture.

Once all of your ingredients are melted put your candy thermometer in and start to stir mixture briskly with a wooden spoon. It will eventually want to smoke so at this stage keep stirring continuously. Don’t take any breaks from stirring. This will be the most important part of the process.

These next few steps will need to be done very quickly:

You will stir the mixture until the candy reaches an amber color and is smooth and liquid and the thermometer reaches 295-310 degrees F. Once it has reached approximately 300 degrees F. turn off the burner and pour the mixture onto the parchment lined baking sheet using the wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan. Next use the wooden spoon to spread the mixture very quickly and evenly over the bottom of the baking sheet making a layer that is about 1/4 inch thick. It does not have to cover the entire baking sheet bottom.

Next, and very quickly sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the roca and let them melt. Once all the chips have a moist sheen to them take the butter knife or offset icing spatula and spread the chocolate chips evenly over the roca until covering the entire sheet of roca in smooth chocolate. Let cool on counter for about an hour and then put the sheet into freezer to freeze roca for a minimum of two hours and up to twelve hours.

Once the roca has frozen it is easier to break into pieces to serve or package up as a gift.

Keep refrigerated when not eating.

Well, what do you think of this almond roca recipe? Pretty easy! And now you have a new gift for Christmas and birthdays that everyone will love! LMK what you think of this recipe below.