Skip to main content

Sugarcraft at Home: Marzipan Apples


I was a bit scared when I asked Zeba for a recipe. If there is one thing I haven't managed to learn in years of dessert making, it's tempering chocolate. And I was pretty sure that whatever recipe this chocolatier sends me, it will have me pulling out double boilers and thermometers. In the end, I did temper chocolate and it was easier than I thought it will be. The resulting candy was also super delicious and totally worth it.

This being December, Zeba shared with me her Christmas recipe for marzipan bonbons. What she does is pour tempered chocolate in the mould to create a shell, fills it with home made marzipan and tops it with more chocolate. I decided to play around with the recipe a bit and created these marzipan apples instead. I must admit I am not a fan of marzipan. Commercial marzipan must be blamed here because it is overly sweet and lacks any kind of texture. But Zeba's marzipan isn't too sweet and by rolling my chocolate dipped marzipan apples in pink hued coconut, I'm adding a layer of texture and another flavour that balances out the sweetness. I also divided Zeba's recipe by a fourth so this one makes about 20 marzipan apples.

Ingredients125 grams roasted and ground almonds
63 grams caster sugar
12 grams liquid glucose
1/4 cup water
300 grams dark chocolate (I use Callebaut 70%)
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
2-3 drops red gel color

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix ground almonds, sugar, liquid glucose and water. Put on a slow heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is quite thick. Let cool. Lightly grease silicon moulds (apple or another shape). Press the marzipan into the moulds and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Take the marzipan out of the molds, arrange in a single layer in a parchment lined tray and let chill in the fridge for half an hour.

In the meantime, make colored coconut. Put desiccated coconut in a bowl and add 2-3 drops of gel color. Mix with a fork until the coconut absorbs the color and is uniformly pink. If you want your apples to be rose red, add more color.

Now temper your chocolate. Heat 1-2 inches of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Pop another bowl on top of the saucepan of simmering water, making sure it doesn't touch the water. I get my chocolate in small chips but chop yours finely if you have bars. This recipe doesn't need all 300 grams of chocolate but it is hard to temper anything less than that. Reserve 60 grams of chocolate and put the rest in the bowl of your makeshift double boiler. Stir until the chocolate melts completely. You are looking for the chocolate to get to about 120F. Take the bowl off the heat, making sure to wipe the condensation at its base. Add the remaining chocolate and stir until the temperature reduces to 82F. Put the chocolate back on top of simmering water and heat back to 90-91F. Your chocolate is now in temper.

One by one, put the marzipan apples on a fork and dip in tempered chocolate. Shake to remove excess chocolate and drop into the bowl of coconut to coat. Remove to a parchment lined baking sheet. Once all the apples are dipped, pop the baking sheet into the freezer for 15 minutes for the chocolate to set.

You will be left with some tempered chocolate. Just pour it into moulds to create solid chocolates or wait until the next post to find out what I did with mine.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but
10 comments
Read more

Announcing AWED : Britain

Before I ate my first Italian wood fired pizza, before I went to that swanky Japanese sushi bar for the first time, or the neighborhood Chinese joint, the first non-Indian cuisine I encountered was British. Not real food, mind you, but the tempting, oh so delicious descriptions in my favorite novels. From Enid Blyton to Jane Austen to P.G. Wodehouse, every favorite character in every favorite novel seems to have food on their mind. Yes, British food gets ridiculed a lot. But forget their main course dishes for now, and think of the full English breakfast and the elegant afternoon teas. Then try imagining the world without cucumber sandwiches or potato chips and you will realize you can't do without British food. Which is why when I saw that DK was looking for hosts for her monthly event AWED (A Worldly Epicurean's Delight) and there has never been a British AWED, I promptly signed up. The rules are simple really: Make any vegetarian or vegan British dish (eggs are
25 comments
Read more

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.
1 comment
Read more