We underestimate and underutilize nuts, mostly preferring them as a snack food. But they have several major attributes in desserts. For one, their keeping powers are phenomenal, so they are almost always of good quality and “fresh,” whether recently harvested or not. Two, they have distinctive flavors that are brought out by cooking, especially with sugar. And three, they have incomparable crunch.
© 2005 Mark Bittman. All rights reserved.