It's Marzipan time!

It's Marzipan time!

For many years I've been making Marzipan for my dad for his birthday. It is so close to Valentines day that I ususally give some to my boys on Vanentines day. They love it. Me, not so much.

Marzipan is an almond candy that is usually shaped like bite sized fruit. In Germany sometimes it will be in the shape of a pig. I've seen it that way here but have never attempted the 'pig'. You can find Marzipan in some Mexican candies but I've never tried it.

I have a very old recipe for Marzipan and I'm sure there is an easier way of doing it. I like doing things the hard way. This is not really hard but it does take days, yes, days to make. I'm not done yet but this is what I've done so far.


First you make the fondant. You boil some water, sugar and a dash of Cream of Tartar until it reaches soft-ball stage.

Oh and I found a pan at Wally World. It is a 3 quart saucepan and I really needed a 2 quart pan. I could not find a decent 2qt so I got the 3qt. It's nice. Heavy bottom, made by Wearever and has pour spouts. That is what is making this pan look like a heart. Cute huh? And the glass lid has little strainer things in them. I like it. Still need a 2qt but this will do for now.


Once it reaches the right temp you pour it in a pan to cool for 30 min. Don't disturb it. Once it has cooled you stir, stir, stir and stir some more until it is creamy and white.











Creamy and white. Wrap in plastic and let it 'ripen' for 24 hours. (that's the word they use)

I put the time on it so I know not to touch it until then. I don't know how critical that is, I just do it that way.









After 24 hours the almond paste is added in. The recipe calls for 8 ounces of almond paste but I can only find these 7 ounce boxes. They are wrapped in a foiled tube.

You use a double boiler to heat up the fondant and paste together. Knead them well to work out any lumps and incorporate the paste.

This ripens overnight.




Then you get to color it like playdough. I use a lot of yellow for apples, pears, bananas and lemons. Red and green for apples, peach for peaches and purple plums.










Here is the Marzipan tin. I keep the leaves, food coloring and cake tips in this giant butter cooky tin. See the pretty heart tin? I had three in different sizes. I used the same tins year after year. My dad returns them to me to 'refill'. I don't know what happens to them but I'm down to this one without a lid. So I really, really, really need new tins.






This is disgusting! Some of my food colors are old. They have leaked all over the place and some have dried up to a crumble. I know I need new colors but I forget to buy them until I need them. They are water soluable so I just add a little water and they work just fine.

I'm going to get new colors, I promise. But not this weekend. Later, ok?





These are some of the leaves that I use. I have silver ones. I don't know what I was thinking when I got them. I hate them. They are cardboardy paper, they don't bend, they don't look pretty on the fruit. So there you have it. I have thought of making some gilded fruit when I run across some edible gold or silver. I know it's out there.

Mostly I use silk leaves, snip off the wires. Very pretty and professional looking.

Little green apples

You roll up the dough into little balls, shape into fruit, press in the leaf and let dry over night.

Red Apples

Peaches

Bananas, Lemons and Pears

After I make them into fruits I let them dry overnight. I apply blush with red food color and let that dry. It's hard to see the color in this photo. Then I put them in those pretty papers that look like tiny muffin cups.

This year dad is getting them in a tupperware. I could not find a Valentine tin anywhere.