Thursday, March 18, 2010

Marzipan FIlled Sugar Cookies



Mmmm. Marzipan. Marzi-what? These cookies will hopefully give you a fabulous introduction to marizpan if you have not already tried the cherry-almond braided Danish.

Just saying Marzipan makes my mouth water and my mood lighten. I realize this is a big generalization, but if there was ONE European baking or dessert product that is not fully appreciated on this side of the Atlantic it would be marzipan. Sure, we’re familiar with almonds, as they make plenty of appearances in biscotti and we all know a dash of almond extract can go a long way in adding something special to coffee cakes or cookies, but it just is not the same as infusing a dessert with the fragrant and tasty flavor of marzipan. Infact, I’d say we Americans are most familiar with marzipan straight up as molded, brightly colored small fruit and animal (and other) shaped candies in Italian bakeries. But, this intensely almond, moldable paste/dough is popular in Europe paired with breads, chocolates, and is even used to adorn cakes similarly to the now-equivalent but much less flavorful fondant. It wasn’t until I moved to the Northeast (and yes, I admit, even more recently having German coworkers and a German boyfriend!) that I really began to appreciate this gem of a treat for not only its taste but its wide appeal on the dessert plate and palate from Turkey to Bangladesh to Germany, and everywhere in between.

Then it would come to you as no surprise that my next goal was to create a dessert with marzipan or almond paste that could be enjoyed by both non-Americans and Americans alike, and hence the marzipan filled sugar cookies were born, but not without some streamlining first! First and foremost, when you decide to try making these cookies, you will find yourself standing in the baking aisle at the grocery store, gazing at your almond paste and marzipan options. What is the difference between almond paste and marzipan anyway? Almond paste is typically not as sweet as marzipan, as marzipan has more sugar already mixed in, and it also does not have as smooth a texture as marzipan. For this recipe, I prefer to use almond paste and then mix in some egg and sugar to get just the right texture and flavor that will work well to be incorporated into the cookie, but if you would like to use marzipan, just be aware that you might want to use less sugar. But back to the intent grocery store gaze. Odense makes fantastic marzipan sold in tubes and is awesome for other recipes that call for marzipan, but for almond paste, Solo makes a nice can that works great in this recipe. So, even though this recipe uses Solo almond paste in a can, I will still refer to this recipe as marizpan cookies as the name just has that special zing. ☺

I was inspired by sugar drop cookies (cookies that do not require cutters) for the initial recipe, and modified it to include a healthy dose of almond extract. Stage two of my vision included taking a small piece of almond paste mixture and then placing it in the middle of two dollops of cookie dough, thinking it would spread out and become perfectly enrobed during the baking process. Fortunately, the recipes for both the cookie dough base and the almond paste filling were absolutely delicious both separately (Ok! I admit, I ate more than a few bites of the cookie dough!) and combined in cookie form, but it took a few tries to get cookies that looked as delicious as they tasted. Below are the recipes for the filling and the dough, as well as the play-by-play development to creating cookies that you’ll feel guilty to devour. ☺

Almond sugar cookie dough
1 tblsp. Almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1½ Cup Sugar
2¾ Cup Flour + 2 tblsp
1 Cup butter or margarine, softened (I used margarine)

In a small bowl, combine the baking powder, soda, and flour. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream sugar and margarine/butter until smooth. Beat in the almond and vanilla extracts and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix well. If the dough is still moist, mix in flour one tablespoon at a time. Ultimately you want dough that is slightly sticky but still balls up, and scoops easily. When baking, bake in an oven preheated to 350 for 10-12 minutes (see below for details).

Almond Paste Filling
1 can (8 oz) Solo Almond Paste
2 tblsp egg substitute or egg white
6 tblsp powdered sugar

First and foremost, depending on your almond taste, an entire can of almond paste may yield a little extra, although for me that is not a problem. ☺ Scoop/dig the almond paste out of the can, and mash it up with a spoon in a medium sized bowl. Add the egg substitute (yes, I stock this in my kitchen for quick and easy baking needs, as well as for my health) to the almond paste and mash it in – you will probably feel like it will be difficult if not impossible to fully homogenize the egg/almond paste mixture, but I promise, it should only take a few minutes! Then, add in the powdered sugar to taste (5-6 tablspoons is perfect!). Next, the assembly! Please see below for the evolution of the perfect assembly of cookie dough and filling! (Or, just skip down to stage 3)

Stage one: My first attempt to generate edible and attractive cookies yielded a plate full of those on the left of the above pictures. To make these, I first cut parchment paper to the size of my cookie sheet, and then placed a ball of dough about the size of a teaspoon on the paper. Next, I took some almond paste about the size of a nickel rolled into a ball and placed it directly on top of the cookie dough, and topped the cookie dough/almond paste blob with another teaspoon sized dollop of cookie dough. As it probably does not surprise you, these cookies ended up looking like a pancake with a small circle or square of butter on the top, rather than what they were supposed to be: a chewy cookie with a stripe of almond running through them!

Stage two: Now, how to get rid of the bulge reminiscent of a cube of butter underneath the exterior of the cookie? Hmmm. I tried to use a little less cookie dough, turn the temperature down on the oven to limit overzealous cookie spreading, and I upped the amount of the almond paste to the size of a quarter and did not spend a lot of time rolling it into a ball. And, much to my surprise, the cookie looked basically the same, with just an increase in the variability of cookie shape (the middle cookie in the above picture).

Stage three… SUCCESS: After two batches of deliciously tasty but misshapen cookies, my fingers were crossed for the last attempt. I put a small bit of dough approximately the size of a small teaspoon on the parchment paper and flattened it a little, and then took my quarter sized ball of almond paste and flattened it out into a disk, and then placed this on top of the cookie dough. This might get a little tricky as the almond paste will be a little sticky; do not worry, just add a little powdered sugar to it to reduce the stick, or rub a little onto your hands to reduce the hand-stick. Then, place some cookie dough on top of the almond paste, approximately the size of a tablespoon, and pop the cookie sheet into the oven and cook at 350 for 10-12 minutes. As a small variation, and to see what works best for you, you can alternate – bigger amount of dough on the bottom, then covered with almond paste disc, and topped off with the smaller amount of dough – this may result in a little exposure of the almond paste during cooking, and may produce slightly different looking cookies. Lastly, take these cookies out of the oven right after the cookies are golden brown around the edges (~12 minutes, for a crunchy cookie) or just before this happens (~10 minutes, for a chewy cookie). The final product may also be delicious with chocolate drizzled over it, or just the way it is described here, represented by the cookie on the right in the top photo and highlighted in all its glory in the bottom photo.