Homemade Marzipan

For years I have been wanting to make a great marzipan.  I have searched recipes and I haven’t been happy with the results.  It seems like most of the recipes had powdered sugar in them and I didn’t like the texture.  I didn’t want a stiff marzipan.  Thank goodness I wanted to hone my skills with chocolate this season and purchased a book called “Chocolates & Confections” by Peter P Greweling.

 The book contains everything scientific about confections and chocolate.  I have been lying in bed reading this giant book every night for a month.  I have learned so much and there is so much that is going right over my head!  While going through the book page by page I found a recipe for marzipan.  THE recipe I have been searching for.  The marzipan is smooth and creamy without the powder sugar grit. It’s a keeper and pretty simple to make.  By pretty simple I mean there is potential to mess it up.  Just follow the Chef Greweling’s instructions and you will have success.  He’s a master.

You will need:

15 oz (430 g) whole almonds, untoasted
12 oz (340 g) sugar
4 oz (120 g) water
4 oz (120 g) glucose syrup (I used corn syrup)

First the almonds need to be blanched.  That means the skins will need to come off.  I tried using purchased blanched almonds and I think the flavor was more stale, almost a rancid taste.  Blanching the almonds gave my marzipan a fresh bright almond flavor.

Place the almonds in a bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to cover the almonds completely.  Let the almonds sit for at least 5 minutes.

Take the soaked almonds one by one (yes a bit tedious) and pinch them and the skins will peel right off.  I had my husband helping and he got a little carried away with the task and he had almonds torpedoing across my kitchen.

Naked almonds.

Place the almonds in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

Pulse the almonds until they are the size of roll oats.

Place the chopped almonds in a large bowl and set aside.

In a small sauce pan, combine 12 oz of sugar.

4 oz water

and 4 oz of corn syrup.

Bring to a simmer and clip on a candy thermometer. Cook to 245 degrees F/118 degrees C.

Pour hot syrup over ground almonds.

Stir to coat all of the almonds.

Pour out onto a lightly oiled marble slab.  You can use a baking sheet lightly oiled or a silicone liner can be used.

Let cool completely to room temperature.  I had to let this batch cool overnight because I was so tired.  I pressed plastic wrap to the surface and went to bed.

I was nervous that the mixture would harden or cool too much,but it worked perfectly.

Process the mixture in batches.  I divided the nuts into fourths processing one quarter of the mixture at at time.

Place in a bowl of a food processor.

Process until creamy.

Remove that portion and repeat with remaining nut mixture.

Once all of the nut mixture has been ground…

Put the entire batch back into the food processor and process the entire batch until very smooth.

Remove from food processor and shape into logs or whatever shape you desire.

Painting your nails red makes the process so much more fun, but completely optional.

Wrap marzipan with plastic wrap.

I weighted the finished marzipan and had exactly 29 oz/826 g.  According to Greweling the recipe should make 35 oz/1000g.  I divided the marzipan, marked the weight and placed them in the refrigerator for later use, but I kept slicing and eating it because it’s so delicious.  I decided I had better freeze it so I’d stop eating it.

Best marzipan recipe I made.  I have given a few of my tubes away as gifts to those who would appreciate the wonderful confection.

Thank you Peter Greweling.

What I learned after 3 batches:

• The first batch was sticky and hard to process. I let the marzipan sit overnight and then I put it back into the processor and re-mixed.  It turned out smooth.
• You may have to play with the temperature depending on your altitude.  Make sure you know the temperature water boils at your altitude and adjust your candy thermometer accordingly.
• Don’t give up
• Don’t throw a batch out if it doesn’t seem to work.  Keep it and mix it together with another batch.

Marzipan
15 oz/430 g Almonds, whole, untoasted
12 oz/340 g sugar
4 oz/120 g water
4 oz/120 g glucose syrup (I used corn syrup)

Place almonds in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Allow to soak for 5 minutes.  Pinch almonds between fingers to remove skins.  Place blanched almonds in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Pulse until the size of oatmeal.  Set aside.

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a sauce pan.  Cook to 245 degrees F/118 C.  Pour hot syrup over chopped nuts.  Spread out onto an oiled marble slab and cool to room temperature.

Place 1/4 of the cooled nut mixture back into the food processor and process until smooth.  Repeat with remaining mixture.  Once all of the nut mixture has been ground and is smooth, place all of the marzipan into the food processor and mix together until smooth.

Wrap marzipan in plastic wrap until later use.

Makes approx. 35 oz

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