marzipan recipes
Feb. 5th, 2012 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foliumnondefluetHaving found a quantity of ground almonds in my kitchen cupboard, I decided to look for some different marzipan recipes, if possible historical ones.
Marzipan has been around since about when we thought banging rocks together was great fun, so it is not surprising that quite a few variations exist. It has long been appreciated as material for edible decorations, which means taste was not necessarily the only design criterion. Basically it is a mix of ground blanched almonds and powdered sugar. Most recipes recommend one part almonds to one part sugar, but it seems the fraction can slide a lot in both directions.
Expensive gourmet marzipans contain at least 50% almonds, whereas cheap stuff is often cut with mashed potatoes, or potato flour.
For decorative purposes, the almonds should be ground as fine as possible, and then ground some more. This is not as important if you just want to eat it ^^
For the actual preparation, in modern recipes I have found 3 major variations.
Variation one uses egg white:
Take one egg white per pound of marzipan, equal parts almonds and sugar. Knead well together, then refrigerate.
Variation 2 uses heat:
Knead together equal parts almonds and sugar with a little water added (about 1 tablespoon per pound), continue this kneading (by hand) in a pan over very low heat until the mixture becomes firm.
Variation 3 uses more heat:
Dissolve the sugar in water over low heat (about 3 parts sugar for 1 part water), add 4 parts almonds and stir until it no longer sticks to the pan. Remove from heat and knead until smooth.
I have used 1 and 2 in the past, but never tried 3.
For decoration, the mixture can be softened by adding some water or made firmer by adding sugar. The more sugar, the harder the end result will get. Finished sculptures are often dried in a warm oven (not too hot as it burns easily) to stiffen them.
Food coloring can be added to the mix or brushed on after drying. Remember that the food coloring considers your fingers to be food... Marzipan also takes icing with chocolate or a sugar-and-water mixture well.
Some recipes add almond extract or lemon juice or salt. Some use 1.5 parts sugar for 1 part almonds.
Historical recipes:
Some are very similar to variation 2 but use rose water instead of plain water. Every historic marzipan recipe I've seen so far involves rose water somehow.
The following is interesting in that it uses twice as much almonds as sugar. This is a recipe for a marzipan-covered wafer, so only the first part deals with the marzipan as such.
To Make a Marchpane
Take two pound of almonds blanched and beaten in a stone mortar, till they begin to come to a fine paste, then take a pound of sifted sugar put it in the mortar with the almonds, and make it into a perfect paste, putting to it now and then in the beating of it a spoonfull of rose-water to keep it from oyling; when you have beaten it to a puff-paste, drive it out as big as a charger, and set an edge about it as you do a quodling tart, and the bottom of wafers under it, thus bake it in an oven or baking-pan; when you see it white, and hard, and dry, take it out, and ice it with rosewater and suger, being made as thick as butter for fritters, so spread it on with a wing feather, and put it into the oven again; when you see it rise high, then take it out and garnish it with some pretty conceits made of the same stuff.
Pleyn Delit offers a redaction of a "Saracen" marzipan recipe that seems to be a complicated version of variant 3, but using 1 part almonds, one part sugar and 1 part honey (so only 1/3 almonds!) It has the requisite 2 tablespoons of rose water but adds 2 tablespoons of sesame oil (I almost wrote this as Sasami oil). The honey and oil are mixed over heat (a double boiler), and the sugar-almond-rosewater mixture is slowly stirred in, then kneaded (off the heat).
Marzipan has been around since about when we thought banging rocks together was great fun, so it is not surprising that quite a few variations exist. It has long been appreciated as material for edible decorations, which means taste was not necessarily the only design criterion. Basically it is a mix of ground blanched almonds and powdered sugar. Most recipes recommend one part almonds to one part sugar, but it seems the fraction can slide a lot in both directions.
Expensive gourmet marzipans contain at least 50% almonds, whereas cheap stuff is often cut with mashed potatoes, or potato flour.
For decorative purposes, the almonds should be ground as fine as possible, and then ground some more. This is not as important if you just want to eat it ^^
For the actual preparation, in modern recipes I have found 3 major variations.
Variation one uses egg white:
Take one egg white per pound of marzipan, equal parts almonds and sugar. Knead well together, then refrigerate.
Variation 2 uses heat:
Knead together equal parts almonds and sugar with a little water added (about 1 tablespoon per pound), continue this kneading (by hand) in a pan over very low heat until the mixture becomes firm.
Variation 3 uses more heat:
Dissolve the sugar in water over low heat (about 3 parts sugar for 1 part water), add 4 parts almonds and stir until it no longer sticks to the pan. Remove from heat and knead until smooth.
I have used 1 and 2 in the past, but never tried 3.
For decoration, the mixture can be softened by adding some water or made firmer by adding sugar. The more sugar, the harder the end result will get. Finished sculptures are often dried in a warm oven (not too hot as it burns easily) to stiffen them.
Food coloring can be added to the mix or brushed on after drying. Remember that the food coloring considers your fingers to be food... Marzipan also takes icing with chocolate or a sugar-and-water mixture well.
Some recipes add almond extract or lemon juice or salt. Some use 1.5 parts sugar for 1 part almonds.
Historical recipes:
Some are very similar to variation 2 but use rose water instead of plain water. Every historic marzipan recipe I've seen so far involves rose water somehow.
The following is interesting in that it uses twice as much almonds as sugar. This is a recipe for a marzipan-covered wafer, so only the first part deals with the marzipan as such.
To Make a Marchpane
Take two pound of almonds blanched and beaten in a stone mortar, till they begin to come to a fine paste, then take a pound of sifted sugar put it in the mortar with the almonds, and make it into a perfect paste, putting to it now and then in the beating of it a spoonfull of rose-water to keep it from oyling; when you have beaten it to a puff-paste, drive it out as big as a charger, and set an edge about it as you do a quodling tart, and the bottom of wafers under it, thus bake it in an oven or baking-pan; when you see it white, and hard, and dry, take it out, and ice it with rosewater and suger, being made as thick as butter for fritters, so spread it on with a wing feather, and put it into the oven again; when you see it rise high, then take it out and garnish it with some pretty conceits made of the same stuff.
Pleyn Delit offers a redaction of a "Saracen" marzipan recipe that seems to be a complicated version of variant 3, but using 1 part almonds, one part sugar and 1 part honey (so only 1/3 almonds!) It has the requisite 2 tablespoons of rose water but adds 2 tablespoons of sesame oil (I almost wrote this as Sasami oil). The honey and oil are mixed over heat (a double boiler), and the sugar-almond-rosewater mixture is slowly stirred in, then kneaded (off the heat).
