Homemade edible gifts are a perfect little something to bring to a party – not only a Christmas party but also a birthday. You could also make these to surprise someone on Valentine’s Day or just because. So this year I’ve decided to make edible gifts for my beloved ones for Christmas. Not just any edible gift, though. But their favorite treat (healthified of course). So for my mom, I decided to make marzipan chocolates since marzipan is her absolute favorite sweet. Tough one I thought. Until I found out what marzipan is made of: ground almonds and sugar. Mind-blowing! No, seriously I thought it was a lot more complicated than that. But all I had to do was replace the refined sugar with a whole more nutritional sweetener. I’m sure you’re going to love the simplicity of these delicious marzipan chocolates as much as I do.
The chocolate can also be made very easily with only 3 ingredients while having full control over what and how much of the ingredients you use. In the end it’s the raw vegan chocolates that contain all the good nutrients. I’ve written about what makes chocolate so healthy already. However, if you don’t want to make your own chocolate, you could buy couverture that is ready to eat or rather melt in this case.
[ingredients title=”Ingredients for the marzipan paste”]
- 2 cups almond flour from blanched almonds (= ground almonds) (200 g)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp rosewater or almond extract (or amaretto)
[/ingredients]
[ingredients title=”Ingredients for the chocolate”]
- 3,5 oz cacao butter (100 g)
- 3 tbsp cacao powder (20 g)
- 2-3 tbsp maple syrup or other sweetener of choice (35-50 ml)*
- Optional but recommended: a pinch of vanilla powder (or extract)
OR: couverture chocolate
[/ingredients]
You will also need:
- Optional: chocolate (silicone) molds
- Optional: edible flowers, nuts or dried fruit for decorating
[directions title=”Directions”]
- Combine maple syrup, rose water and almond flour and knead well. Congratulate yourself to marzipan – homemade in less than a minute!
- Begin to form marzipan into desired shape, e.g. round, squared, heart shaped etc. (silicone molds make it very easy) and let sit in the fridge.
- For the chocolate: melt together all of the ingredients in a simple double boiler and mix well.
- Spread a sheet of parchment paper on your kitchen counter and sit an oven rack over the top.
- Dip marzipan pieces into the melted chocolate and place on oven rack.
- Optionally garnish with edible flowers, nuts etc. and let set completely.
[/directions]
Store the chocolates in fridge, especially the ones with the homemade chocolate coating, because they could melt otherwise.
Share this with everyone who’s into Marzipan or just anyone who has a serious sweet tooth! If you want to know what happens when you bake marzipan in the oven, check out this post.
