Marzipan Fruits

This is a little late, but nevertheless, I'm going to post about it.   So there.

I've shared some of my Christmas memories, making Hearts with my Dad, baking cookies with my mom and sister/s, decorating the tree, so many wonderful memories.   And another one of those was the making of the Marzipan fruits.

 I usually have some Marzipan or Almond paste on hand, just because it's hard to get sometimes, so when I see it in the stores, I grab it.  And I use it for baking throughout the year.

My preferred brand is Odense, I've tried other brands, but really don't care for them, the taste isn't as mellow as Odense to my tastebuds.   And I've not tried my hand at making Marzipan from scratch, yet.  

 One of these days...

I have no idea how much Marzipan we started with, but I'm sure it wasn't that much, I used a tube of already prepared Marzipan for this, which is 7 oz.

And when I look back on this I shudder a little, but Mom always made us wash our hands, well, before we embarked on making our fruit.

First off, divide the marzipan into quarters or fifths or...  however you want.   Then take the Marzipan up and knead it a little, you want it soft.

 Make a little disk with an indent to it.
Add one drop of food coloring to the indent, then fold over the marzipan to contain the food coloring.  You'll probably end up with some of the food coloring on your hand anyway.   And believe me when I say, just add one drop.  The color can get pretty intense.

Then set it aside, and continue with the other pieces, using different colors for each fruit you are going to fashion. 


 Yellow for Bananas

 One drop of red and one of yellow, makes Orange.

So there you have your colors, although I did make some purple as well, but, umm,  I didn't care for that color as well.

Form a small piece of the yellow into a banana shape and dip the end into some cocoa powder, and then use a toothpick dipped into the cocoa powder and trace a line down the banana.  

Take some of the orange marzipan and form an Orange, and then cut a little of the green and stick some leaves on top. 

Continue until you've used up all the marzipan.  As you can see here, I had 'apples' 'oranges' and 'bananas'.








If you have any scraps left over, you can layer them together and cut them into diamond shapes.

This is great fun for a family, if you have little ones, who want to 'help' you out.  No cooking, no cutting, just playing with a form of play dough really.  And it's edible.

Which is a good thing, if you have kids. 

Trust me on this, it's also a good thing when you're an adult as well.   You can eat your oops.  Don't tell anyone, OK?