Almond paste is made from grounded almonds or almond nuts and sugar in equal quantities, with a small amount of cooking oil, beaten eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added to bind the ingredients all together. Almond paste is often used as fillings in pastries, chocolates, cookies and other items. Marzipan is also made of almond paste.
Almond paste contains 130 calories, total fat being 1.6g, monounsaturated fat 5.1g, sodium 3g, total carbohydrates 13.5g, dietary fibre 1.4g, sugar 10.3g, protein 2.5g & 5percent of calcium & 3 percent of Iron. It has no cholesterol & sodium, but high in sugar. Calories of almond paste depend upon the quantity of sugar used & other ingredients added to prepare it.
Almond paste nuts spread nutritional value as per one serving is 1040 calories, 20400mg of protein, 82300mg of sugar, 62900mg of fat, 1090 mg of fibre, 390.40mg of calcium, 712.80mg of potassium, 20mg of sodium, 6000mg of saturated fats.
There are many delicious recipes made out of almond paste. Pine nut cookies is one such recipe where almond paste is used. Pine nut cookies are made of egg whites, sugar granules, almond paste & pine nuts. This one piece (1504g) cookie has 132.7 calories, out of which calories from fat is 67, total fat 7.4g, saturated fat 0.6g, sodium 5.8mg, and carbohydrates 15.6g, dietary fibre 0.8g, sugar 13.4g, protein 2.2g whereas it has no cholesterol.
Another recipe is Ginger simnel cake with spring flower that needs almond paste along with other ingredients such as currants, raisins, ginger, tea –leaves, flour, butter etc. Per servings of this cake consists of 405 calories, 7g protein, 9g carbohydrates, 18g fat, 5g saturated fat, 2g fibre, 25g sugar & 0.15g sodium.
Almond paste is good for growing children & people who want to gain weight. Homemade almond paste is better than canned almond paste available in markets.
