Real marzipan or baked almond paste
The recipe for marzipan or marzipan paste is very old but to this day we still don't really know its origins.
Some say it comes from the Persian civilization and empire, i.e. from Iran, while others say it is Mediterranean, more precisely from Italy. Whatever its origins, it's there for us to make and enjoy.
This paste is made up of two essential ingredients: almond powder and sugar, and is very useful for decorating pastries, as well as for pastry-making in general.
Almond paste
There are several recipes for this, including a cold version which lasts only a short time and which I've already suggested.
There's also a hot or baked version, which lasts longer and tastes better, as all the almond flavors develop during baking and the texture is more malleable for working.
It was time to give you the second one, which is my favorite and the one I use most often in my baking.
I don't recommend flavoring the dough with other aromas, just accentuating the fragrance with the bitter almond flavor.
The other flavors come with the filling used and associated with the dough.
I've posted videos of the steps involved in making this marzipan on FB and Insta...
Ingredients for 640g of almond paste:
Syrup :
100 g water
200 g sugar
25 g glucose
200 g homemade finely ground almond powder
220 g powdered sugar (you can reduce the sugar to 160 g)
Bitter almond essence
Syrup:
In a saucepan, combine the water, sugar and glucose and bring to the boil.
Do not stir, but leave to cook until 114°C.
At this point, add the almond powder and cook over medium heat until the mixture pulls away from the pan. This takes about 5 minutes.
Transfer the appliance to the mixer bowl and work the dough with a sheet to cool it, gradually incorporating the powdered sugar.
The dough should whiten and become smoother, without drying out too much.
Almond paste, almond, Algerian cakes, marzipan, oriental cakes, aid,