[Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan....

[Olwen the Odd]

>Hey All,
>	The marzipan posts of late started the gears and cogs in my imagination
>ticking so I got a small bit of marzipan to play with.  Now I have heard of
>wondrous creations made out of this stuff and mine still looks like
>uncooked
>sugar cookie dough and is about as agreeable to my sculpting efforts.  Do
>you leave it out once sculpted to harden up or do you bake it?  Any
>suggestions as to neato things I can try here?  *looks at the poor lump of
>neglected marzipan*
>~Melody
>
Oh goodie Melody is going to play with marzipan!!  So much fun.  Well, to
begin with, if you want to colour marzipan and don't mind if it's not some
period tinture then use the gel or paste rather than the water based stuff.
Make sure your hands and surfaces are very clean and don't smell funny cuz
that is the one thing marzipan is finicky about (trust me, fish smelling
marzipan is not a good choice).  After that it's just a matter of play.  I
leave my marzipan sit out and get to room temp. before I play with it.  The
more you handle it the softer it will become.  Sometimes it gets so soft
it's sticky and it should go back in the fridge till it cools down.  You can
mold it, use cookie cutters, "paste" pieces together using rose water (or
plain water ~ I use rose water), put it between wax paper and roll it or use
your finger to squish it (that's how I form the petals for the roses), you
can sclupt it, stuff it, boil it, bake it, give bits to your cat....well,
get the idea?  Depending on what you are going to do with it.  I usually
just leave mine sit out and harden up then put it in containers or ziplock.
Mind, if you let it sit out way long it will get hard as a rock.  Mix a
little in some simmering cream and it makes a wonderful sauce to pour over
poundcake, pasteries, fruit and icecream.  (Remember the "stuff" in the
bottle Chirhart?) Yum.  Well, sorry for going on, but it is my favorite toy.
Olwen, queen of marzipan

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp