Gluten free marzipan is not impossible to find, but it ain't easy, either. And it's ridiculously expensive! $8.95 for 11 ounces is not my idea of a good deal on pretty much anything.
But did you know how easy it was to make your very own marzipan in your very own kitchen? Well it's not as easy as, say, not making it, but it's easier than you think. Somewhere in the middle there, you find this gluten free marzipan recipe.
Can you make this homemade marzipan into shapes?
Yes, but why would you?
I thought about (okay, I tried for longer than I really had allocated to the task) to shape this marzipan into all sorts of adorable animals. I think marzipan fruit shapes are creepy but only because I have an unfortunate personal childhood history of marzipan fruit that spent way way WAY too long on display in my home. It does go bad. It DOES.
Anyway, I gave up on the shapes as they weren't gorgeous enough to do justice to this. Instead, I made easy truffles (cream + chocolate = truffles but if you'd like a recipe there's one in my first gluten free cookbookpage 235) and then wrapped them in the result of this marzipan recipe.
How to make gluten free marzipan
All you need is some sugar, water, 1 egg white and some blanched almond flour, then some confectioner's sugar for kneading. You can use whole blanched almonds, and just get a result that is not nearly as smooth. But that's neither here nor there, and entirely up to you.
We're going to cook sugar, but we did that for gluten free licorice, and then lived to tell about it. Right? I took plenty of step-by-step photos for you, but the idea is this: you cook the sugar to create a rich simple syrup.
It has a very high sugar to water ratio, so when you cook it to 240°F (the so-called softball stage) and then whisk it as it cools, it becomes cloudy and appears to thicken.
Then, all that's left to do is to add the almond flour and egg white, cook again briefly over low heat, and then knead in confectioner's sugar until the marzipan becomes smooth.
A small saucepan, whisk, cheap-o instant read candy thermometer and a bench scraper are all the kitchen equipment you need to make marzipan. And it just takes a few minutes.
I've shied away from baking too often with almond paste and marzipan as they're such expensive ingredients. I am happy to report that I am officially over my shyness.
1 cup (112 g) blanched almond flour (or an equal amount, by weight, whole blanched almonds, ground in a food processor)
1 egg white (25 g) at room temperature
1/2 cup (58 g) confectioner’s sugar, plus more if needed
Instructions
Assemble all of the ingredients so that they are within reach.In a small, heavy-bottom saucepan, place the granulated sugar and water and whisk to combine. Attach an instant-read candy thermometer to the side of the pan with the sensor in the mixture and not touching the side or bottom of the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and then turn the heat to medium-low. Cook, undisturbed, until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (240°F). Remove the saucepan from the heat, and whisk the syrup until it becomes cloudy and almost creamy. Run the bottom of the saucepan under cold water to cool the syrup a bit.
Add the almond flour and the egg white to the syrup, and mix to combine. The mixture will be thick and clumpy. Return the saucepan to the stove and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture melts and then thickens (if you run a spatula through the mixture, it will leave a trail). Remove the saucepan from the heat and scrape the marzipan into a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle the top with some confectioner’s sugar and allow it to cool briefly. Once the marzipan is no longer too hot to handle, scrape it onto a flat surface sprinkled generously with confectioner’s sugar. Using a bench scraper, fold and knead the marzipan until it becomes smooth, dusting with more confectioner’s sugar as necessary to help it hold together.
Press the marzipan into a log or a ball, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. It should keep well for about 2 weeks.
Almond paste has twice the amount of almonds in it compared to marzipan, making it coarser in texture and less sweet than its counterpart. Their consistency also differs as marzipan is smooth and pliable, almost clay-like, while almond paste is somewhat gritty and spreadable, almost like a cookie dough.
If you're not a fan of almonds or you're allergic to them, here's a quick solution for a nut-free marzipan substitute. Shift 5 oz of icing sugar.Mix it together with 5 oz of semolina and 2 tsp of custard powder.Beat and egg white and add it to the mix.
If the dough is too dry and doesn't hold together, add a tiny bit more water (or syrup). Make sure to add just a little until a thick dough is formed. If it's too sticky and wet, add more almond flour.
Yes! Almond Paste and Marzipan are both gluten-free. Pursuant to FDA guidelines, any product containing less than 20 PPM (parts per million) of gluten are in fact gluten-free. Almond Paste and Marzipan each contain less than 5 PPM of gluten, which is the lowest testable limit and far more stringent than FDA standards.
Marzipan is essentially ground almonds and sugar, so there is no reason why marzipan would contain gluten, and I have never seen commercially produced blocks of baking marzipan that has gluten in it.
You can use store-bought almond paste to make marzipan but you cannot make almond paste from marzipan. In a pinch, you can substitute marzipan for almond paste, but be sure to reduce the amount of sugar called for in the recipe because marzipan is sweeter than almond paste.
Frangipane is a variation of soft, spreadable custard that bakers commonly use as a filling in tarts, galettes, and puff pastries. Marzipan is a sweet almond paste used as a candy or fondant, adding texture to traditional cakes, like German stollen, or rolled out and used like fondant.
German marzipan is made by grinding whole almonds with sugar and partially drying the paste, and French marzipan (called 'massepain') is made by combining ground almonds with sugar syrup. Some marzipan is flavoured with rosewater. Spanish marzipan is made without bitter almonds.
Watch out for satay sauce (made with peanuts), pesto sauce (which can contain tree nuts such as cashew nuts) and marzipan and praline (confectionery products made with nuts). Salad dressings may contain nut oils.
To decorate your Christmas Cake without Marzipan you can either fill and ice a cake with the buttercream, or you top the cake with the fruit and nut crust. Or you can go all out, stack two cakes with buttercream AND top with the fruit and nut crust.
“The aroma and flavor of marzipan can be attributed to benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, which both derive from amygdalin, a compound naturally present in almonds.” Apparently the importation of bitter almonds is banned in the United States because of the connection with cyanide.
Also called almond candy dough, marzipan is an agreeable, multi-purpose combo of the first two, with a subtle almond flavor and unmatched malleability. Be sure to try these marzipan cake recipes.
This is because apricot has a mild taste so will not affect the flavour of the cake. It is recommended that you sieve the jam after heating it as chemicals in apricot skin can occasionally cause the marzipan to “blow” away from the side of the cake causing a huge air bubble to form beneath the marzipan.
If this is the case a good substitute for marzipan is a thin layer of sugarpaste and then cover as normal. Let the first covering dry before applying the second cover.
One packet of marzipan is ideal to cover the top of a 20cm (8inch) round cake or an 18cm (7 inch) square cake. Suitable for Vegans, Vegetarians and Gluten Free.
Figi's Classic Marzipan. The Food and Drug Administration today issued a warning, saying the product can be dangerous and life-threatening to consumers with an almond allergy. No illnesses have been reported.
Introduction: My name is Tish Haag, I am a excited, delightful, curious, beautiful, agreeable, enchanting, fancy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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