Making Almond Paste

[JustKay]

I have always wanted to try to make petit fours. I'd like to try out the recipe posted.

I would have to make my own almond paste though. Can someone please tell me if this recipe looks right?

Homemade Almond Paste

It says to grind the almond to a fine powder before adding the powdered sugar. I would think that you can't get powder but rather a paste, unless it is coarsely grounded. Or can I just use ground almond? The ground almond we get here is imported from the US but it is NOT a fine powder - just finely ground, still gritty.

Thanks for any help.

edited to change 'it' to 'petit fours'.

Edited May 19, 2004 by kew (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

Personally, I wouldn't attempt to make my own at home. I don't think you can get the same results. If you don't want to buy it from overseas then I'd skip it all together in my petite fours. Instead use a thin plate of white chocolate on top of the cakes before pouring fondant. Or you could use a thin piece of rolling fondant (which you can make at home successfully).

[JustKay]

Instead use a thin plate of white chocolate on top of the cakes before pouring fondant. Or you could use a thin piece of rolling fondant (which you can make at home successfully).

Using white chocolate as substitute for the marzipan is certainly a good idea. I had in mind to just buy the rolling fondant, which is sold in boxes, imported from the US.

I'm enquiring about the almond paste used in the recipe posted to make the cake itself. Is this just finely grounded almond ie almond flour?

[Wendy DeBord]

No you shouldn't sub. almond flour in this instance for almond paste. Paste used in petite four batters gives you a nice dense almost crumbless cake. Which makes cutting and coating them easier.

If you did use almond flour in that recipe, I think you'd get a dry cake.........even though it "might" work, it will give you the wrong results.

[nightscotsman]

We made our own almond paste in school, but we used high powered professional Robot Coups, so you may not get the same results using a home food processor. The recipe you link to seems to me like it has too much water. Here's what we used:

125 g blanched almonds

100 g powedered sugar

9 g sorbitol (optional - helps maintain freshness)

80 g (about) simple syrup

Grind almonds and sugar together until you get a smooth paste - add simple syrup only if needed. Don't over mix to keep the oil from separating from the nuts.

[rickster]

MY two cents is that this is going to be difficult or impossible to do at home with a home food processor. I've tried making almond paste and hazelnut paste in a Cuisinart and neither one worked out. I could not get from a fine grind to a truly pasty state. I also wonder whether the nuts available to the home cook are of sufficient quality to do this properly (ie, not enough moisture/oil).

Edited May 19, 2004 by rickster (log)

[crc]

I have made almond paste..using the blanched almonds, I grind them with some of the powdered sugar, which helps to keep it from turning into paste and oily. This has been done both in a Cusinart & Robot Coupe... You get a pretty fine grind however it is not as fine/smooth as the texture of commercial almond paste. If you want to use it in the actual cake, then as long as you do not mind the little extra texture from the nuts( might give some added interest to your cake texture) by all means you can make the homemade almond paste you posted.

There are some formulas which use eggs and granulated sugar also. Which you can use if cooking or baking in a product.

Also, try pulverising further the almond meal (which is available to you) with some of the powdered sugar, and see if that may give you a finer meal. When making the almond paste, do be careful not to overwork the dough or it will become very oily..let it rest before you work it again. This can be finished using your dough hook in a mixer bowl also or just finish by hand. HTH

Edited May 19, 2004 by crc (log)

[JustKay]

Thank you so much for all the replies.

I think I'll try pounding it in a lesung batu = mortar & pestle made from granite (this is very tough)

I also have a small grinder (to grind dry spices) which I will also try.

Thanks also for the recipe to make the paste.

[devlin]

Anybody have a favorite almond paste formula and method?

Stupid question: how is almond paste different from marzipan?

[alanamoana]

marzipan has more sugar than almond paste up to around 50%

my favorite method is to call up my local purveyor and order some!

it is very difficult to get the fine texture of commercial paste using the tools that most of us have. if you don't mind it being a bit rustic, you can do it in a food processor.

[Chufi]

Also, for marzipan, the almonds are more finely ground. At least that's the difference between Dutch marzipan and almond paste. Maybe American almond paste is smoother?

Anyway, this is the Dutch recipe for almond paste. This one is quite coarse, so it's not that hard to make at home, and is used in all the famous Dutch december pastries such as this one

Grind 125 grams of blanched almonds with 125 grams of sugar, until you have a paste. Knead in 1 egg. Optional: a bit of lemon zest (I usually don't add that until I use the paste for baking) My recipebook from the fifties says it will keep in the fridge (and improve in flavor) for 4 weeks, but I've never tried that!

[devlin]

Thanks so much for the clarification. I knew there was a difference, just not precisely what.

And thanks for the almond paste recipe and link. Now that I look at it, I know I've had that version in pastries. I'm interested in using it in Stollen, which I've never made before. I'm assuming if I want something less coarse I can simply grind the almonds more, yes?

[Chufi]

I made almond paste today for some Dutch pastries.

Pictures here

[andiesenji]

I have better luck with putting the almonds through a grinder first, then using the food processor to incorporate the sugar - I also add rose water because that is the way I learned close to 60 years ago.

Back then the almonds were put through a hand-cranked meat grinder - then were worked by hand with a large mortar and pestle to incorporate the sugar - (regular granulated sugar was "powdered" in a Waring blender my grandpa bought in 1937 after hearing Fred Waring promote it on his radio show.) The sugar actually was super-superfine, not like powdered sugar that has other stuff added to it. Sometimes sugar syrup was added if the almonds were very dry.

The marzipan was then turned out onto a marble slab and kneaded and worked by hand until it was very smooth. Sometimes small batches were worked with a muller to incorporate the colors which were either powder or paste. (my memory isn't perfect but I do know they were not the regular liquid food colors and had to be ordered by mail.)

It wasn't till years later that I learned a muller was actually used to grind artist's pigments into oil and I have no idea where my grandmother got the idea to use it in the kitchen, and none of my aunts recall that either, just that it was "always there" at least from the 1920s.

My grandmother had a ceramic cornucopia on its own tray, that she would fill with marzipan shapes of little fruits and vegetables and was a centerpiece on a sideboard in the dining room.

I can buy fresh raw almonds that are grown locally so I have had no problems with the almonds being dry.

Edited November 22, 2006 by andiesenji (log)