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.

Homemade Marshmallows!

Get ready for a surprise... For our dear friend's birthday, we made our own homemade marshmallows. Inspired by a recipe by the beautiful Hungry Girl Porvida, we were a little uncertain at the beginning. But the recipe turned out to be quick, easy and the marshmallows are so much better than what you'd buy at the supermarket (not to mention they are quite impressive...) You will need a candy thermometer.

Ingredients:
1 cup cold water, divided
90 grams gelatin
2 cups sugar
2/3 honey
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Recipe:
First prepare a shallow pan and line it with baking paper. Sprinkle powdered sugar all over the baking paper.
Place 1/2 cup of water in the bowl of a standing mixer with the whisk attachment. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and allow it to soften for about 5 minutes.
Place the remaining water, sugar, honey and salt in a saucepan, melt and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until the syrup reaches 240 F on the candy thermometer.
Turn the mixer on on low speed, and slowly pour the syrup into the gelatin. DO NOT pour on the attachment itself or you'll splatter boiling syrup all over yourself (ouch!).
Once all the syrup is incorporated, gradually increase the speed, and continue whisking until the mixture turns white, thick and stiff (like marshmallow fluff). At this point add vanilla and mix to combine.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, and with wet hands smooth the top.
Dust with powdered sugar and let it sit in room temperature for at least 4 hours.
When ready just take the marshmallow out, and with a sharp knife cut into bite-size pieces. Toss with powdered sugar to coat the pieces (we threw them in a Ziploc bag and shook), and store in a container.

You can get creative and add other flavors into the mixture, such as mint, coffee, cardamon, etc. We will be sure to play some more with the recipe the next time we try it.