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    Home » Desserts & Sweets

    Christmas Marzipan

    Published: Dec 14, 2016 / Updated: Sep 5, 2018 / 8 Comments

    This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my affiliate disclosure for more details.

    Jump to Recipe

    These homemade marzipan Christmas treats are cute, easy to make, and are a tasty and unique holiday sweet. Perfect for your cookie exchange or a homemade gift!

    several homemade red and green marzipan Christmas treats in festive shapes with powdered sugar beside star shaped cookie cutter

    I grew up eating marzipan. It's pretty common in the Czech Republic (my mom is from there, and I lived there for a couple years when I was little).

    My mom makes these yummy marzipan mushrooms every Christmas and they're super cute, but I wanted to try something a little different here.

    plate of homemade marzipan holiday treats in different festive shapes like Christmas trees, stars, and candy canes

    I've never tried making my own until I decided to make these delectable homemade marzipan Christmas treats.

    I picked up a pack of little Christmas cookie cutters with this recipe in mind.

    several homemade marzipan Christmas treats with festive cookie cutters

    How to make homemade marzipan

    Making marzipan from scratch is pretty simple, and I used Daring Gourmet's guidelines to make the basic recipe. I then added food coloring and rolled the marzipan out to make the shapes.

    If you haven't had marzipan before, it's essentially a thick almond paste. It has a delicious sweet almond flavor, and it's often paired with chocolate (such as Ritter Sport chocolate - one of my favorites!). You can sometimes find marzipan by itself, sculpted into fun shapes like fruits or animals and painted to make them look lifelike. It's also sometimes used to decorate cakes.

    This marzipan recipe is made much easier by using almond meal/flour - thinly ground up blanched almonds. You could blanch and grind your own almonds, but who has time for that?

    several homemade marzipan festive colored Christmas treats

    Coloring the marzipan is optional, but I definitely think it adds a fun touch. To make the coloring process easy, I divided the "dough" into three roughly equal parts, placed each part to be colored into a small bowl, and used a spoon to mix the food coloring in. That way you avoid staining your hands.

    The marzipan is pretty sticky, so I used a lot of icing sugar when rolling it out, much the same way you would add flour to dough to stop it from sticking to the rolling pin.

    red marzipan dough with festive shaped cookie cutters

    It's up to you how thick you make the shapes - just play around and see what you prefer. You don't want them too thin, or they will bend and/or lose their shape. Keep in mind that marzipan firms up when stored in the fridge. I do recommend storing the marzipan in the fridge to preserve freshness and keep its shape. If you're so inclined, you can definitely get creative when sculpting it. Cookie cutters are just one option to get fun shapes.

    I made marzipan the traditional way (with raw egg whites). If you really are worried about eating uncooked egg whites, try substituting 2 tablespoons of light corn syrup instead. I haven't tried it myself, but it's the suggested substitute in many marzipan recipes. The rose water adds to the classic flavor. If you're having trouble finding food-grade rose water, try a specialist kitchen/cooking shop, or here's one from Amazon.

    I was pleasantly surprised to find out just how easy it is to make marzipan at home that tastes like the real deal. You know how you sometimes try to make things at home and it just doesn't work? Not this time! You'll love these Christmas marzipan sweets.

    several homemade marzipan Christmas treats with powdered sugar

    Hope you enjoy this Christmas marzipan recipe!

    Have you ever made your own marzipan?

    These homemade marzipan Christmas treats are cute, easy to make, and are a tasty and unique holiday sweet. Perfect for your cookie exchange or a homemade gift!

    Christmas Marzipan

    Delicious homemade marzipan, shaped with Xmas cookie cutters.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Saved!
    Prep Time 45 mins
    Total Time 45 mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
     

    • 1.5 cups almond meal/flour
    • 1.5 cups powdered sugar
    • 1 egg white
    • 2 teaspoons pure almond extract
    • 1 teaspoon rose water
    • Red gel food coloring
    • Green gel food coloring

    Instructions
     

    • In a food processor, pulse the almond meal/four and powdered sugar until they're mixed together.
    • Add the egg white, almond extract, and rose water to the food processor. Process until a ball of marzipan (it will look like dough) is formed.
    • Remove the marzipan and place onto your work surface. Knead it a few times (you may need to add some powdered sugar because it'll be sticky), and then divide it into 3 balls if you plan on coloring it. Place 2 of the balls each into a small bowl. Add the food coloring and stir it in until it's mixed in evenly. Form each color of marzipan into a ball (you'll likely need to add icing sugar to do this).
    • Work with each ball of marzipan at a time. Roll each ball out, cut out shapes, and then repeat until all the marzipan is used.
    • If your egg whites are pretty fresh, marzipan should last at least a week (if not a few weeks) if kept in a sealed container in the fridge.

    Notes

    • Yield depends on how thick you cut the shapes out. Recipe makes about 12 ounces of marzipan.Making the marzipan is easy - it only takes about 5-10 minutes. It's rolling out the shapes that takes the bulk of the time.
    • You can make the marzipan ahead of time and store it in the fridge (cling wrap or a sealed container). Let it soften prior to rolling it out.
    • Basic marzipan recipe is adapted from The Daring Gourmet.
    Keyword Christmas marzipan
    Author Natasha Bull
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    1. Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says

      December 15, 2016 at 11:39 PM

      Those are super cute, Natasha! They'd make perfect gifts but I'm not sure they'd last long enough to make it through my front door 😉 Thanks for sharing this idea and thanks so much for the shoutout! 🙂

      Reply
      • Natasha says

        December 16, 2016 at 8:21 AM

        Thanks, Kimberly!! And thank YOU for your recipe - it was easy to make these treats because of it. 🙂

        Reply
    2. Mary Ann | The Beach House Kitchen says

      December 15, 2016 at 7:08 AM

      I agree Natasha. These treats would be perfect to give as gifts for the holidays. A nice change from the usual cookies. I've never tried to make my own homemade marzipan. I'll need to get your recipe on my list of must trys!

      Reply
      • Natasha says

        December 15, 2016 at 9:53 AM

        Thanks, Mary Ann! 🙂 Let me know if you try making it. I was definitely pleased with the results.

        Reply
    3. Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary says

      December 14, 2016 at 11:44 AM

      I never had marizpan until culinary school, but oh my gawsh, is it soooo good! Obviously I am drooling over these cookies!! Not only are they gorgeous, but I KNOW they taste amazing! These would be great to include in a homemade cookie gift basket... if I didn't eat them all first. 😉 Cheers!

      Reply
      • Natasha says

        December 14, 2016 at 11:53 AM

        Aw thank you, Cheyanne!! They are pretty addictive haha.

        Reply
    4. Natasha's Sister says

      December 14, 2016 at 11:29 AM

      Are you giving me some for Christmas!?

      Reply
      • Natasha says

        December 14, 2016 at 11:52 AM

        No.

        Reply

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