Ingredients
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100 ml Water
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200 gr Sugar
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200 gr ground almonds
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1 egg yolk
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Bitter almond essence
Directions
Marzipan is a traditional Christmas dessert whose main ingredients are almonds and sugar. It is a sweet made of almonds and sugar crushed with a mallet, hence its name in Spanish (maza and pan equal mazapán).
In Toledo, you can find marzipan all year round, despite the widespread tradition in the rest of Spain of eating it at Christmas.
How to Make Figuritas de Mazapán:
- Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan. Put it on a medium heat to boil for about 4-5 minutes, so that the sugar melts and the resulting syrup is clear. If you want, you can also add a few drops of bitter almond essence.
- Then add the ground almond and stir constantly until a thick dough forms. Cook it well until it comes away from the sides of the pan; pour into a bowl and let it cool. Put it in the fridge for 1 hour so it is easier to knead.
- After an hour, the dough for your figuritas de mazapán will look thick and slightly sandy. In order to knead it well, take small pieces of the dough, wet your hands with water each time and form the figuritas. You can give them the shape you like best. For example, with a knife you can make three marks on each marzipan figure.
- When you have all the figuritas de mazapán ready, paint them only on the top with a brush soaked in beaten egg yolk.
- With the oven preheated to 210º C, place your figuritas de mazapán on the grill attached to the top of the oven. They only need a couple of minutes; so take them out as soon as you see that they are toasted on top. Let them cool down and enjoy this traditional sweet.
