This Chocolate Raspberry Marzipan Gateau is a prime example of French baking. I can’t remember where this comes from, certainly I did not come up with it. The three hole paper is turning yellow with age so it has to be when I was learning and becoming interested in pastry as a profession.
A note on the bottom says, “This is a wonderfully moist and flavorful combination.” I love finding little notes on old recipes. Continue reading
Garmisch is another wonderful yeasted coffeecake as only the Germans can make them. Superb bakers, their products not only look beautiful but are luxurious tasting.
This yeast dough is really easy to put together and even if you have been slow to come to yeasted doughs this is a great place to start. It is a firmer dough that handles easily. It can be made ahead and refrigerated for several days before shaping and after baking, it freezes to be eaten another day – maybe as a special treat on New Years Day morning.
This Garmisch dough comes from a recipe that is so old I can’t remember where I got it. The dough itself is not sweet. The sweetness of the Garmisch comes from the filling. The original filling was walnuts and while delicious, the chocolate cherry almond filling adds a note of excitement. Dried bing cherries are soaked in brandy. Almond paste, a European favorite combines exquisitely with the cherries and brandy. The processor makes quick work of combining the ingredients into a filling with the egg white used to bind the filling. Continue reading
This Orange Almond Teacake is made from the same recipe as the Orange Almond Madeleines. In fact the madeleines. which we used as a petit four we thought of after we did the cake. They are not only a wonderful addition to a petit four tray but can also be arranged as a flower for presentation. 
What makes this recipe a bit different from the original is the use of my almond paste in this Orange Almond Teacake. A teacake is usually a simple, one layer, uniced cake. While originally eaten with a cup of tea, coffee or nothing is fine in the states. The almond paste in this cake keeps it moist for days. The crumb of this cake is very close, not exactly dense but not exactly light either. Continue reading
Last week I posted a recipe using almond paste. One of my regular readers asked me if I had a recipe to make almond paste since it is so expensive. At the time I remembered seeing such recipes so I hopped on the internet and found quite a few.
Most of them featured blanched almonds, powdered sugar and egg whites as the binder.
Armed with a pound of almonds, plenty of powdered sugar and egg whites, off I went.
The first hint of a problem was getting the almonds fine enough. Processor blades dull after a while and I don’t know if they can be sharpened. I generally just replace mine. However, since my processor is on it’s last leg, I haven’t and the blade is not as sharp as i would like it. So I restorted to placing them in a blender with the powdered sugar and it did a great job after a lot of scraping and blending. After the nuts were finely ground, I transferred the mixture to the processor and added the egg white. It balled up into a gorgeous mass and when shaped into a log it looked spectacular.
I went to bed that night happy with my conquest. Almond Paste – DONE!!! When I woke up the next morning I had a nagging feeling of needing to test my perfect product. Continue reading
Almond Macaroons are simplicity itself and one of the easiest, fastest, most delicious cookies you can make.
Be sure to use almond paste and not almond filling or almond marzipan when making these. Each of those has other ingredients in them. Almond paste is made of almonds, sugar and almond extract with water to hold it all together. It is very smooth and is used to make marzipan which in turn is used in Europe to cover wedding cakes and make shaped candies or candy centers.
It is possible to make your own almond paste and several methods can be found on the internet. At the bottom of the article several sites are given if you are so inclined. Because we made a lot of these at the bakery we used pre-made almond paste and I still do. Several consumer brands are available in my area, the largest being Solo Pure Almond Paste and Odense Pure Almond Paste. Continue reading
