Especially before important holidays like Christmas or Easter, marzipan is often used to refine small or large treats. Especially in winter, marzipan potatoes, dominoes and Co. are highly popular. From time to time, feasting on these sweet temptations is also perfectly permissible. Nevertheless, you should not forget that marzipan is not exactly healthy due to its ingredients and high calorie content.
What is marzipan?
Marzipan consists primarily of almonds, powdered sugar and rose water. In the production is generally distinguished between marzipan and marzipan raw mass. Here, the raw paste represents the basic building block from which all other marzipan products are created by adding further ingredients (mainly powdered sugar). The quality of the finished products is defined in particular by the ratio of sugar to marzipan paste. The less sugar added, the higher the quality of the product. Lübeck marzipan, for example, consists of at least 90 percent marzipan paste, while other fine marzipan varieties must contain at least 70 percent. For a product to still bear the name marzipan, however, the ratio of marzipan paste to sugar must be at least 1:1. The quality of the product can often be recognized by its color: Good marzipan is rather yellowish, the more sugar is added, the lighter it becomes.
Marzipan: healthy or unhealthy?
One of the main ingredients of marzipan is almonds – and they are healthy in moderation! Although almonds contain a lot of fat, however, they are essential fatty acids that have a positive effect on our health. For example, regular consumption of almonds can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, our cholesterol level is also said to benefit from moderate almond consumption. In addition to almonds, however, marzipan consists mainly of sugar – and that is anything but healthy. Among other things, too much sugar promotes the development of obesity. Due to the high proportion of fat and sugar, the calorie content of marzipan is also relatively high: 100 grams contain around 460 calories – that’s almost as much as a bar of chocolate. However, the calorie content depends to a large extent on the quality of the product: the better the quality, the less sugar it contains and the lower the calorie content. In general, you should always consider products with marzipan as a sweet that is allowed now and then, but which should not be part of your daily diet. If you like the taste of marzipan, try a marzipan tea or a marzipan flavored coffee. These hot drinks smell wonderfully of marzipan, but do not hit your hips.
Make marzipan yourself
Marzipan raw paste can be bought in many supermarkets, but you can also make the paste yourself quickly and easily. To do this, you only need the following ingredients:
- 250 grams of almonds
- 250 grams powdered sugar
- ½ vial bitter almond flavoring
- 30 milliliters of rose water
Preparation: Put the almonds in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let the almonds soak for five minutes and then peel off the skin. Dry the almonds and then grind them as finely as possible using a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and knead everything together well. Store the finished mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Delicious recipe: baked apple with marzipan.
Marzipan can be used to refine many desserts – extremely popular, for example, are baked apples with marzipan filling. To make it, you will need the following ingredients:
- 4 apples
- 60 grams of marzipan paste
- 40 grams chopped almonds
- 150 milliliters apple juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Butter, powdered sugar and cinnamon
Cut a lid off the apples and remove the core. Brush the bottom of the lid with a little lemon juice. Now roast the chopped almonds in a pan until golden brown. After cooling, mix them with marzipan, cinnamon, powdered sugar and butter. Then fill the mixture evenly into the four apples. Place the apples in a greased baking dish and pour the remaining apple and lemon juice over them. Let the apples bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.
