Surely you had to meet more than once in pastry buns with marzipan. Or it is possible that you either heard from someone, or you yourself used the expression “fried marzipans” as a synonym for something non-existent, such as bird milk and fish fur. But what is marzipan?
It is neither a fruit nor a vegetable. German connoisseurs can say that this is “March bread”. Yes, the word itself is translated that way, but what is marzipan is impossible to understand from this phrase. "March bread" is an elastic paste, most of all in consistency and properties resembling plasticine.
Today it is difficult to say when and where for the first time they learned how to make almond nut dough with powdered sugar, but many countries and peoples claim the title of “inventor”. There is evidence that even in Byzantium they already knew what marzipan is. The Italians rely on the fact that in the Middle Ages they had a crop failure - almost all plantings died. Only almonds survived on a strange whim of fate. So he began to grind and bake bread from such flour. The Italian championship is disputed by the Sicilians, claiming that they started to use nut mixes with sugar. And the French cite the fact that their country is considered the birthplace of the first confectioners, and it was they who came up with the use of marzipan for cake. The recipe from the German city of Lubeck still causes fierce debate in the confectionery environment. Masters sacredly observe professional secrets, and the secret of making a nut mixture is not revealed to anyone. The version of the fact that for every hundred sweet nuts you must certainly put one bitter, although it gives a good result, but still does not bring it closer to the original.
But be that as it may, marzipan is widely used throughout the world in the confectionery industry. This delicious treat can be prepared on your own.
Cooking marzipan at home
The recipe is simple, and you’ll see for yourself. To prepare this treat you will need:
- 0.5 kg of almonds;
- 10 bitter nuts;
- 200 g of sugar or powdered sugar;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of water.
Almonds should be scalded with boiling water, remove the shell from it, and then lightly dried in a slightly warm oven. In order for it not to burn, you can leave the stove open - it will be easier to control the process.
In a coffee grinder, grind the kernels into flour, add powdered sugar (if there is no powder, then grind granulated sugar on the same coffee grinder) and mix thoroughly, as in the preparation of a regular dough. In the process of mixing, periodically add small doses of water. The easiest way to do this is with a spray gun. Almond butter will serve as a binder .
Wrap the finished mass in polyethylene or foil and send in the refrigerator for the whole night. Marzipan can be stored in the cold for a long time, so having prepared it once for the future, you will then be able to use it at any time. If you wish, you can color the mass with any food coloring and make various delicious figures out of it for children.
Now you know what marzipan is and how it is prepared. Be sure that your loved ones will appreciate your pastry masterpieces, decorated with original and tasty details.