A Little Bit About Marzipan

Marzipan is a confection made with almonds. If you look up Marzipan on the Internet you find many different recipes. I first learned how to make Marzipan at a workshop at the French Pastry School in Chicago and it's the recipe that I use today.

Ingredients

• 500 grams almonds blanched
• 75 grams trimoline
• 125 grams water
• 250 grams sugar, granulated
• 3 grams bitter almond oil

Equipment:

• Robot Coupe Blixer or Heavy Duty Home Food Processor
• Small sauce pan
• Silpat mat

Process:

• Place blanched almonds in food processor and process to crush.
• Place water, trimoline, and sugar in sauce pan and bring to a boil.
• Pour the hot syrup into the food processor and blend for a minimum of five minutes. In the Robot Coupe Blixer this will bring the temperature to 185 degrees F and pasteurizes the mixture.
• Add the almond oil and blend again until oil is mixed thoroughly.
• Pour out on Silpat mat and allow to set.
• Turn mixture over and allow it to set again. 
• After marzipan sets it is ready to shape into confections. 

Of Interest

Almonds are the main ingredient in marzipan, a paste of sugar and almonds finely ground together and molded and dried into decorative shapes, a Middle Eastern invention that became popular in Europe during the medieval crusades. Leonardo da Vinci made marzipan sculptures for the Milanese court of Ludovico Sforza in 1470, and wrote that he "observed with pain that [they] gobble up all the sculptures I give them, right to the last morsel." 


--taken from On Food and Cooking The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee