Marzipan

SLCC Cooking Club

Marzipan

(Demo by Randy Diaz)

Marzipan is typically a mixture of almond paste, sugar and egg whites. Marzipan is wonderful for holiday decorations. For Thanksgiving you can make pumpkins or Fall leaves. For Christmas, you can make Christmas trees, Gingerbread men, or angels. You can even use marzipan as a substitute for cake frosting, by simply rolling out the marzipan into a thin sheet, covering the cake with the sheet. Let your creativity run wild; be as creative as you wish. This is also a great way to get the kids involved. Let them make their own holiday decorations for cakes, pies, or just for show.

Marzipan can be made, but I recommend you purchase it. Odense is a well-known brand. However, if you are so inclined to make it, the following recipe seems to be the easiest:

1 pound blanched almonds coarsely chopped, or almond flour
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1/4-teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
3 to 4 cups confectioners' sugar

In an electric coffee grinder, grind the blanched almonds in small batches into a fine powder. Sift the powder through a fine sieve into a large bowl. Regrind any almond particles remaining in the sifter. Or, you can purchase almond flour at any health food store. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt until they are frothy, whisk the vanilla, and stir the mixture into the almond powder. Sift in 3 cups of confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, kneading the mixture together in the bowl, and sift enough of the remaining 1-cup sugar to form a smooth, pliable dough (add more sugar if the dough is too sticky). Quarter the dough and wrap each piece tightly in foil. The marzipan paste keeps, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 8 weeks.

If you already have almond paste, the recipe for making marzipan is even easier:

This recipe makes about 2 pounds

1 pound almond paste (Preferably Odense brand)
1 box confectioners’ sugar
1/4-cup light corn syrup
Vegetable shortening, for hands

Combine almond paste, confectioners’ sugar, and corn syrup in a large mixing bowl. You may need to work the mixture with your hands to ensure that it is well mixed. To prevent the mixture from drying as you work with it, rub hands with a light coating of vegetable shortening. Wrap tightly in plastic until ready for use.

Marzipan can be decorated in so many different ways. You can incorporate food color, or use food coloring as paint to decorate e.g. apples, peaches etc. You can also purchase at specialty stores "coloring powder" to dust marzipan. You can use stems from e.g., mint leaves, parsley or use whole cloves to accentuate your marzipan decorations. Or, you can use cookie cutters or non-toxic leaves to imprint designs. Your creativity is only limited to your imagination.

The following are some simple decorations to make:

MARZIPAN CARROTS

Directions:

1 Make a well in the marzipan and add a few drops of food coloring, about 2 drops of yellow for every drop of red.

2 Knead in the coloring.

3 Make 30 balls (larger balls for larger carrots).

4 Roll each ball between fingers into a carrot shape.

5 With a toothpick dipped in oil to prevent sticking, make diagonal markings.

6 With toothpick make a slight indentation in top for stem.

7 Use parsley stems as carrot tops.

8 Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

MARZIPAN PUMPKINS

Directions:

1 Knead a small amount of food coloring into marzipan. You will use approximately 1 part red to 2 parts yellow to get a good pumpkin color.

2 Take a small piece of the tinted marzipan and form a ball

3 With your little finger, make a small indentation in the top of the marzipan ball.

4 Dip a toothpick in vegetable oil. This keeps the marzipan from sticking to it. Starting at the ball's North Pole, press the toothpick's side in gently from pole to pole to make pumpkin "creases."

5 For a final touch, add some tiny stems cut from stalks of mint or other non-toxic plants.

6 Idea: Use marzipan pumpkins as place card holders for your Halloween and Thanksgiving dinners.

MARZIPAN LEAVES

Directions:

1 Knead a small amount of food coloring into marzipan. You will use a few drops of green food coloring.

2 Take a small piece of the tinted marzipan and form a ball

3 With a rolling pin, roll a thin sheet (approximately 1/8 inch) sheet.

4 With a very sharp knife, cut a shape of leaf from the sheet.

5 With the back of the knife, create indentation of leaf marks.

6 Dry over dowel to create a natural leaf shape

MARZIPAN CALLA LILLIES

Directions:

1 Knead a small amount of food coloring into marzipan. You will use approximately 1 part red to 2 parts yellow to make an orange colored stamen.

2 Take a small piece of non-tinted marzipan and form a ball to be rolled into a 1/8 sheet.

3 With a sharp knife, make small triangles for the white flower part.

4 Take a small piece of the orange stamen and create a little thin stamen.

5 Loosely roll white marzipan triangle around the orange stamen.

6 Create a stem using a stem from mint leaves or parsley leaves

The following websites have great tips/tricks recipes for making marzipan decorations: