Marzipan is an Arab heritage that must be made with raw almond and sugar in a 1: 1 ratio. That is, if we want to have 100 grams of marzipan, we need 50 grams of sugar and 50 grams of almond.
Both products, almonds and sugar, are not as old as some believe. The Arabs took the sugar from India - where the sugarcane was originated - the technique that allowed to convert sugarcane juice into granulated crystals. It is known that as soon as arabs conquered Egypt in the seventh century they planted cane on the banks of the Nile and they did the same in Spain when was conquered in 711 of our era. Therefore, in Spain there was accessible sugar for more than 1300 years while in the rest of Europe, honey and other vegetables should be used as sweeteners. In fact it was not until the eighteenth century that granulated sugar became from a luxury ingredient into another commonly used.
Until about 10,000 years ago the almond trees gave a bitter and poisonous fruit due to the amygdalin, a substance that is transformed into the lethal cyanide. It was enough to consume a dozen bitter almonds to be lethally intoxicated. Some trees however, due to a natural mutation, produced sweet almonds and growers-gatherers of 10,000 years ago favored their reproduction by virtually eliminating trees that produced poisonous fruits, to the point that today they are almost impossible to find. Even so, some trees that should give sweet almonds, occasionally suffer a mutation and generate bitter and therefore poisonous fruits, especially in abandoned fields where they reproduce without human control.
The Arabs found that crushing almonds with sugar altogether produced an amalgamation of both ingredients thanks to the essential oils that distilled the first. It wis enough with this crushing process and a rest time to obtain a sweet paste with which small candies were made that compacted even more easily by baking them.
When making marzipan at home it is preferable to use egg white to amalgamate it. With this marzipan you can fill puff pastry, and even sponge cakes just like if we did it with cream, or chocolate.
We will make a simple roll with a marzipan dough wrapped in puff pastry and decorated with sliced almonds.
INGREDIENTS :
For the marzipan:
250 grams (8.8 oz) of normal granulated sugar
250 grams (8.8 oz) of raw almonds
1 egg white
For the roll:
1 egg yolk
1 puff pastry sheet
100 grams (3.5 oz) of sliced almonds (raw if possible)
Icing sugar
First we crush the almonds with the sugar using a processor or using a mortar. When everything is well crushed, we add the egg white and knead until a compact dough forms. If you see that it is too dry - it cracks - you can add a little water but with a lot of moderation. If instead it is too liquid, because there was too much egg white, add sugar and almonds in equal parts. That is, if a spoonful of sugar is added, another one of very fine chopped almonds should be added.
We extend the puff pastry and in the center we place the marzipan to which we have previously given a cylindrical shape of about 30 cm (11 inches) in length. Prick the puff pastry with a fork so that it does not rise too much.
Wrap the marzipan cylinder with the paste and close the edges by painting them with the egg yolk. In this way it will not open when baked. The puff pastry should be well attached to the marzipan.
We paint the entire visible surface of the puff pastry with the rest of the egg yolk. On this surface we place the sliced almond. It will stuck with the egg.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (356 F) and bake for about 25 minutes. If we see that sliced almonds are roasted too much, it should be covered with an aluminum foil. Puff pastry should be bright and roasted - not burned - and the almonds of golden color.
It is removed from the oven, allowed to cool and sprinkled with icing sugar. You will love it.