Marzipan Leftovers & Not Very Cornish Pasties

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Not very Cornish Pasties

Glass of Secret Red

Marzipan scraps

The church in our village has only one bell so every Sunday it rings a very fast toll – a “bring out your dead and make it snappy” kind of noise!  It woke us this morning which was useful; lots to do.  In fact I’ve had lots to do for a while so haven’t blogged much but don’t worry I have been eating.

~   Yesterday I made one of my favourite pizzas involving roasted butternut squash but cooked too much squash. 

~   Two days ago I made a chicken and leek pie and had some leftover puff pastry scraps – see here on how to store leftover puff pastry and other things to do with pastry scraps.

~   Last week I confitted myself some duck legs and ate all but the last one, I don’t know about you but I never eat the last one first!.

So this is what I came up with next ….

Two duck and butternut squash turnovers plus a rough pasty like thing, the shapes were dictated by the pastry scraps.  Fabulous lunch even if I say so myself.

Having marzipanned my cake (spell check is of the opinion that “marzipanned” isn’t a word but surely it is!) I played with the scraps and trimmings.

A couple of years ago I cooked some really good leftover marzipan cookies by accident.  This is pretty well what I did so far as I remember.

Chewy Marzipan Cookies

This recipe is not for leftovers but I thought I’d mention it just in case, like me, you find a pack of marzipan you hadn’t realised you had bought!  Caster sugar works well too.

2 egg whites

70g-90g icings sugar - sifted

pinch salt

500g marzipan – finely chopped or grated

a little more icing sugar

~   Preheat oven to 325º

~   Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof or baking parchment and grease lightly.

~   Whisk the egg whites till pretty damn frothy but not so that you have a meringue situation.

~   Slowly whisk in the sugar, salt and marzipan speed up and whisk to a soft sticky dough which is as smooth as poss.  You may need to add more sugar or, if too firm, perhaps a splash of rum; the texture of bought in marzipans seems to vary quite a lot.

~   Scoop into small balls, roll in icing sugar to coat and place well spaced (1½” or so apart) on the baking trays, they will spread during cooking.

~   Bake for 20-25 minutes till golden round the edge and cracking on the top.

Here, however, are some ideas for genuine marzipan scraps, trimmings and leftovers.

~   Eat them.

~   Roll into little balls and then in cinnamon sugar or cocoa and sugar and then eat them.

~   Roll into little balls, dip in melted chocolate and set aside to harden.

~   Bake or toast for a few minutes till crisp, crumble and sprinkle over ice cream, trifle, etc.

~   Add coarsely chopped marzipan to cakes, cookies, pancakes, muffins etc.

~   Sprinkle a layer of chopped marzipan over a pastry base then top with fruit (peaches or cherries are great, apples or pears are good too) and bake for a delicious frangipane tart thingy.

~   Use to stuff dates.

~   Make marzipan fruits, animals, stars or whatever to decorate cakes and desserts. 

3 unrelated points …

1.      About a week ago I saw daffodils fully in flower beside the road.  Poor things.

2.      I also spotted a lovely typo the other day:

3.      And finally, my apologies, I should have posted this yesterday, Sunday, but my photos wouldn't upload – sorry!