Marzipan Perfect For Tea

There's nothing more indulging than a bite of a small sweet treat so refined and precise. Adapted from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden this recipe for homemade marzipan (massapan in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish spoken by Jews in Spain) takes minutes to make, keeps forever and will go perfect with your afternoon tea.


The Ingredients:
500g ground almonds
300g sugar
1 cup water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp ground cardamon (optional)
2-3 drop of almond essence
Powdered sugar 

The Recipe:
Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice in a pan for 10 minutes, until the syrup is thick and sticky and coats a spoon. Be aware not to let it caramelize. Now add the ground almonds, cardamon and almond essence and stir over low heat for 2-3 minutes, until the paste no longer sticks to the pan. Set aside and let cool.  Oil your hands lightly, take little lumps of paste and roll into 2.5 cm round balls. Coat in powdered sugar, and serve. A true indulgence. We like to make some extra and store it in the fridge. We roll it into a log, wrap in saran wrap and put it away for a rainy day (it will keep for months). And when some some friends come over for tea and there are no cookies, we can quickly whip out our homemade marzipan.