Sometimes I get a itch to try out new things. That day it was a sweet experiment, more precisely a Marzipan make over. This sweet almond dough is one of my favourite candies, but I am often disappointed by bought marzipan, especially in Goa it is impossible to find good marzipan bonbons. Sometimes its not only the taste which disappoints me, but also the weird colorings and forms.
I just cant imagine how anybody can enjoy a fake colored marzipan pig or mushroom. Absolutely not appetizing! Would you enjoy a purple colored marzipan? At least if you knew that it contained organic blueberry extract then it would make more sense, right? Often commercial sold Marzipan is enriched with more sugar then almond paste and the taste is covered with lots of almond essence. To me, that’s a fake Marzipan and its a shame to even call it as such.
Cooked almond dough is great to use as coating for cakes but simple uncomplicated Marzipan can be made without cooking too. In this recipe I preferred to use the almonds au naturel, that means without peeling them. That resulted in a natural brown coloring, which I feel looks gorgeous! For a unique flavour I chose to use linden honey, the honey’s aroma can be described as flowery, fresh with a strong aftertaste. Its not too overwhelming and neither too sweet which I found well fitting to incorporate it into my Marzipan candy. My uncle is a professional beekeeper and I am a fan of all his honey variations, so I try to arrange for 2-3 jars whenever I come to Goa or when some of my family members come down. He makes all kind of honey products such as honey lollipops and honey wax too.
Inspired by my uncle, I came up with linden honey marzipans. I was having a blast making those, engraving a little “design” with a toothpick on the balls surface and I got even a visitor. No idea if the little baby lizard wanted to help me or if he had a small crave. The jar broke and I had kept it in the basin when I discovered it and it kind of looked cute, tiny half transparent, maybe 3 cm long and so inocent. I freed him near a mango tree, but he was like frozen, I guess he must have been filled with fear or maybe he was disappointed cause he couldn’t get more marzipan. who knows!? 
Ingredients
- 100 g whole Almonds
- 1 1/2 Tbs powdered Sugar
- few drops rose water
- 2 hipped Tsp linden Honey
Instructions
- Since my marzipan recipe is all natural, I dont blanche the almonds (if you prefer you can blanche them by keeping the Almonds in boiling water for a few seconds till the skin goes off, then simply peel).
- Grind the Almonds in a mixer small as shown, then add the sugar and grind shortly again.
- Throw in the rose water and mix it well to a paste dough. ( I used the mixer and broke my cheap quality Jar by doing that). Keep it for 2 hours covered in the fridge to rest.
- After 2 hours, take it out of the fridge and add the honey to the marzipan. Mix it all well in with your fingers. Its a sticky story but its well worth the troubel.
- Now your Marzipan is ready and you can form it anyhow you like it. Be creative and try out new ideas. =)
I’ve always wanted to try
I LOVE marzipan, but you’re right…I’d rather have it be a natural color. These sound so delicious!
This looks absolutely yummy..I should try this soon…Bookmarking this one..
Aarthi
http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/
I love marzipan, but I must admit the ready-made one is very sweet. However I like to have a small bite from time to time! Your marzipan truffles sound delicious.
We don’t have lizards here, so I suppose when one day I see a lizard in my house I would scream very loud!
My washbasin is outside, so the lizard wasnt in my house. luckily…
I have never used marzipan in baking, but I have several recipes for it. Glad to find a recipe for making it at home, I am sure it is so much better than store bought. Lucky you to have a beekeeper in the family, how I would love to have fresh honey! Thanks for sharing this and have a great day.
I absolutely adore marzipan, and I am so excited to give this a try! I can’t believe I’ve never thought to make it myself.
Thank for checking out my blog,You have a great blog,I never have marzipan but I heared about it,sound Yummy
Ridwan
You make this look so easy. I love marzipan. Thank you for sharing the recipe and for stopping by my blog. By the way you might know Sea Bass as Branzini.
the word Branzini isnt known to me either, I think so I realy dont know this ingridient.
This looks wonderful! It is also difficult to find good marzipan where I live. Sometimes my family sends me some from Germany, and that satisfies my cravings for a little while…
But your recipe looks great. I’ll give this a try! Thank you!
That is one simple and decadent dessert. I don’t like using store bought marzipan. Love this recipe, gotta try soon
This recipe looks interesting! And you make making marzipan look so easy – I have to give it a try!
You won’t believe that I was lying in bed last night thinking about almond flavoured dip as I was falling asleep… (ah, the life of a foodie), these almond bites look delicious and I too get hankerings to try new things – so fun! Love the last photo with the sun streaming in…
This looks delicious and I agree, it is so much better without any artificial ingredients. That lizard is so cute! He knows a good thing when he sees it:)
I love Marzipan and so does my family. So glad I found this homemade recipe. The honey in this makes it even more special. Thanks for sharing the recipe. And thanks for the blog-love, Helene!
Hi Helene,
This looks delicious!Homemade Marzipan sounds mazing. Will have to try this out.
There’s nothing quite like the taste of home made marzipan without the addition of the overwhelming almond essence. Although I do think that the sculptures that they come up with with marzipan can be very cute!
I’ve never really tried marzipan, but I particularly remembered a scene in Gilmore Girls where they experimented with marzipan and it did not seem to go so well, LOL!:P Now, looking at your post and the responses from most of the food bloggers, marzipan does not seem to be so bad after all.
You are such a calm person to be able to take it out, but yeah, that’s the right way, they are not really pests and it’s a living creature, it deserves to be let out back into nature 
However, the little visitor you took a photo of indeed scared me, and I bet I would definitely freak out when I saw it, hehehe
Hi Christy. I dont realy remember that episode in gilmore girls, its been a while too. The lizard wasnt dangerous so no worry about that little guy. =)
Hi Helene, I am glad you dropped by my blog. I am enjoying reading through yours, you are so spontaneous and full of curiousity and the little everyday facts in your posts sound so exotic from over here. I love India, I spent a while travelling there when I was younger and my mother used to go to Goa often.
how cool is that! its a cool place right?
Your marzipan is just gorgeous! And you’re so right, so much better than store-bought! It’s so cool that your uncle is a beekeeper.
Marzipan is one of my favorites, especially the one made by Lindt. My husband used to bring it from business trips and then proceeded to hide it from me b/c it would call out my name after midnight. LOL This looks wonderful!
you must have miss understood! not lind chocolate from switzerland, my addition to the marzipan was linden honey.
I haven’t had marzipan in…forever! This looks amazing…love the addition of honey.
The lizard freaked me out!
Your recipe is appetizing! especially right now when i’m in bed and i feel like eating something sweet!
The lizard freaked me out!
thisYour recipe is appetizing! especially right now when i’m in bed and i feel like eating something sweet!
dont worry Arwa! =) the lizard is just a baby
So beautiful!!!! And I bet so much better than store bought marzipan. And I hope your little friend is enjoying his freedom
I am so impressed that you made marzipan! Soooo yummy, especially with fabulous honey! Great post.
I love marzipan and I always buy the real stuff, not the imitation which has an awful taste. I haven’t tried making my own! What a great idea. How fortunate you are to have access to wonderful honey.
I have never thought to make my own marzipan! I do love marzipan, so this is fantastic!
Oh wow, I love this recipe!!!! This looks fun to make, and really easy to make too:-) Beautiful, Hugs, Terra
Mmmmmhhh, heavenly! I am a big fan of marzipan.
cheers,
Rosa
I can’t wait to try this!
You’re brave – I’ve always wanted to try my own marzipan. I find the stuff you buy is always very dry and slightly chemically tasting as well – yours looks really nice – moist and soft, and it doesn’t sound too ridiculously sweet either. I’ve gone off commercial marzipan a lot in recent years – I think I’d enjoy this a lot though!
This looks delicious and a great alternative for the kids.