I often hear people say they don't like Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and mince pies; when asked what they don't like about them it is that they are dark and bitter. I'm pleased to say currants are entirely responsible for this, which is why, at Christmas time, they are banned from the Hagbech kitchen. They have their place, of course, during the year in such things as pasta sauces and with flax seeds in Susan of Wild Yeast's wonderful Rustic Flax seed Currant bread Click here. In my opinion, adding currants to Christmas baking may reduce the overall cost but adds an unwelcome bitter note.
The other thing I often hear from people is that they don't like marzipan. This is almost always because their experience of marzipan is that of commercial marzipan which is often made from groundnuts and artificial almond flavouring. What follows is my recipe for home made marzipan, simple and easy.
You will need:
200g of Ground Almonds
100g of Caster Sugar
100g of Icing Sugar
1 medium size egg
Place all the ingredients in a food processor or food mixer and mix to form a cohesive mass. This marzipan can be kept for 2 to 3 weeks; it can be rolled out to put on rich fruit cake before finally covering with icing, it can also be used to make small petit four, it can even be formed into small rounds and baked at 180C for 11 minutes to make almond cookies.
Notes:
I shall soon post my recipes for Christmas Cake, Mincemeat and Christmas puddings.
Very fitting that I arrive at your blog doorstep needing a recipe for almond paste as I am making stollen for Christmas (bypassing the currants ;)). I am looking forwards to your recipes for Christmas cake, mincemeat and Christmas puddings. I am sure that they will be as awe inspiring as your regular food contributions :)
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