How To: Making Marzipan Favors

Marzipan has been used for centuries as a delicious and attractive (not to mention edible!) decoration by various cultures. Marzipan may serve in the place of cake fillings or frosting, and small marzipan figurines may adorn pastries. They also make sweet wedding favors!

** Why Marzipan is useful:

You can pretty much shape the versatile dough into any form you choose. You may choose to use a heart-shaped cookie cutter, form small fruits for a fall wedding, or even shape the marzipan into little doves for a special treat. Marzipan is also easy to make--not to mention you can really let your creative side show with this craft!

** How to make cooked Marzipan:

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

4 cup extra fine ground blanched almonds

Note: The most important ingredient in Marzipan is the almonds--in fact, pure Marzipan must contain at least 25% almonds; otherwise, it will be considered almond paste. Be sure that the almonds are cleansed of their skin (soak them in hot water if necessary,) and very finely ground. You may choose to purchase your almonds at a pastry shop. If that's not an option, use a hand mortar or granite rollers to achieve the necessary fineness.

Heat the water in medium heat, then add the sugar and cook until it is dissolved. Next, add the almonds and keep cooking until the batter no longer sticks to the pan. Pour the batter onto a marble or wooden sheet (if you'd like, cover the sheet with butcher paper to prevent sticking.) Let the batter cool a little bit, but be sure to begin forming the dough while it is still lukewarm.

** How to shape the dough:

To facilitate your work, you may wish to use a sharp cookie cutter (i.e. heart-shaped.) In that case, be sure the dough has been flattened out uniformly to the desired thickness.

To shape by hand, take a little piece of marzipan and form into a ball. Next, shape the marzipan into the desired shape (i.e.: if you are making animal figures, you would at this stage give the shape its ears, eyes, nose, etc.) Be careful, as marzipan is intially very fragile. Be sure to have an adequate base for all your figurines, enough to carry the figure's weight.

** How to paint marzipan:

You may wish to use food coloring or edible paint. Using an extra small paint brush reserved solely for this purpose is best. Be sure you clean the brush completely before moving on to another color.

** Other wedding-related projects with marzipan:

If you are very crafty, you may choose to make your cake topper out of marzipan. (Or if you are making your own cake, you may adorn it with marzipan flowers.) Little pieces of marzipan kisses, shaped just like the chocolate ones, are also sweet treats.

** How to store and handle marzipan:

Of course, one of the greatest things about marzipan is its uniquely sweet taste. Your figurines will be edible for a few days--they will harden after that and become tough to eat. Be sure to store marzipan in a plastic bag, preferably in a cool place.