Marzipan

=Marzipan=

Marzipan is a very traditional sweet treat that has been enjoyed for centuries. It is a very delicious and popular candy made from sugar and ground almonds. The Spanish version of marzipan uses bitter almonds, while just about every country in Europe has their own, slightly different recipes. For fun, marzipan is often molded into a variety of sizes and shapes: animals, symbols, and even sometimes people.

Where marzipan comes from originally is open to debate. Some believe that it originated in Persia, but others claim Toledo was the birthplace of marzipan as far back as 850 or 900 AD.

A second legend takes place in 1212. The legend goes that the nuns of the San Clemente convet took in wounded soldiers from the battle of Navas de Tolosa. The nuns had very little to eat themselves, so as you can imagine, they had nothing to feed to the soldiers. As the legend says, the nuns grabbed all the whole almonds they had and ground them into bits. They took the bits and kneaded then the bits together with sugar to create emergency rations, or meals. In Spanish culture, this is how marzipan came to be.

Marzipan are yummy! It's filled with cream filling. It is also smothered with sugar with complementing almonds to top off the tasty dish. To make marzapan, without using bitter almonds, you can use ground almonds mixed with sugar syrup.Some Marazipan are flavored with rosewater which is a mixture of rose oils and freshwater. Marzipan is formed into a variety of shapes and sizes. These range from animals (like fish and cats), to objects (like hearts and squares). Marzipan dishes are at their highest around Christmas time. So in Spain, instead of everyone baking Christmas cookies, everyone must be bakeing Marzipan!

Want to make your very own Maripan? Here's a recipe that you can use!

Ingredients
Ingredients: 250 gm of icing sugar, 250 gm of ground almonds, 1 egg white, 1 egg yolk

Preparation
Place the icing sugar, ground almonds and an egg white in a bowl. Blend until obtaining an even mixture, then kneed.Allow the mixture to stand in a cool place. When you are going to use it, sprinkle with the icing sugar, knead once again, giving it the shape you wish.Glaze the figures with egg yolk and place in a hot oven for a few minutes. Then take out the shaped marzipan and enjoy your dessert!