Tallinn marzipan

Ingredients

The marzipan

• 300 gblanched almonds
• or 300 g ground almonds
• 250 gicing sugar
• sifted
• 2 tablespoonswater
• or rose water

To bind

• 1 tablespoonglucose syrup
• or light corn syrup
• or 1 egg white
• see notes
• a few drops almond extract
• optional

To paint

• food colouring
• gel or paste
• fine brushes
• a little vodka
• or clear spirit, to thin

To serve

• as painted figures
• or plain shapes
• with coffee
• in Tallinn Old Town

Directions

1. Use ordinary sweet almonds for this. A few drops of it is quite enough. Grind the blanched almonds as finely as you can.
2. Use a food processor in short pulses. Stop as soon as it is a fine powder. Sift the ground almonds if you can. Mix the ground almonds with the sifted icing sugar. Sift the icing sugar before mixing it. Mix them thoroughly together dry first. Add the glucose syrup and the water.
3. Add them gradually rather than all at once. Work the mixture with your hands as you go. It comes together into a stiff paste. Add liquid a teaspoon at a time near the end. It should feel like firm modelling clay. Knead the marzipan until it is smooth. Knead it on a surface dusted with icing sugar. Work it for about three or four minutes. It becomes smooth and slightly glossy.
4. Wrap the marzipan and rest it for an hour. Wrap it tightly so it does not dry out. Refrigerate it if the kitchen is warm. Shape the marzipan into figures by hand. Work with small pieces at a time. Keep the rest wrapped while you work. Roll and shape it like modelling clay. Modelling tools help with fine detail. Leave them uncovered for several hours. The surface forms a slight dry skin.
5. Use gel or paste colouring rather than liquid. Liquid colouring is too wet and runs. Use fine artists’ brushes kept for food. Never use brushes used for anything else. Wash them thoroughly between colours. Build colour in thin layers rather than one thick coat. Let each layer dry before the next.
6. Let the painted figures dry completely. Give them several hours to dry fully. Leave them somewhere cool and dry. Keep the figures in an airtight container. An airtight tin keeps it soft for weeks.
7. Keep it somewhere cool and dark. Do not refrigerate painted marzipan. Cool room temperature is the right place. Marzipan keeps several weeks sealed. Serve the figures with coffee. It keeps several weeks in an airtight tin.

Technique

• Traditional marzipan recipes bind with raw egg white, which carries a small but genuinely real salmonella risk and is not cooked at any point — that matters most for pregnant people, the very young and anyone immunocompromised. Glucose syrup avoids it entirely, gives a more pliable paste and keeps longer, and the atlas gives that as the default; pasteurised egg white is a reasonable middle route.
• Marzipan is almost entirely almonds and nut allergy can be severe — obvious as that is, say so clearly and never leave it unlabelled on a shared table. Use ordinary sweet almonds; bitter almonds contain cyanogenic compounds and are restricted or banned in many countries, while almond extract gives the same note without them.
• Pulse the almonds in short bursts rather than running the processor continuously, which heats them, releases their oil and turns them to almond butter — over-processed almonds make greasy heavy marzipan. Ready-ground almonds avoid the problem entirely and are what most home cooks use.

Substitutions

• Ground almonds replace whole blanched ones directly and are already fine and dry. Rose water replaces plain water for a floral note.
• Gel or paste food colouring is essential rather than liquid, which is too wet and runs; thin it with a drop of vodka or other clear spirit, which evaporates in seconds without wetting the surface. The alcohol involved is genuinely tiny and evaporates almost entirely, but a drop of water works less well if you prefer to avoid it.

Variations

• Tallinn traces marzipan to its Town Hall Pharmacy, operating since the early fifteenth century, where it is said to have been sold as medicine. The pharmacy itself is genuinely documented; the marzipan origin story is less certain, and several cities including Lübeck make competing claims that are none of them firmly established. Almond and sugar pastes are genuinely ancient, appearing in the medieval Middle East and spreading through trade, so a single point of origin is unlikely — the atlas records the Tallinn claim as a claim. Sweets sold in pharmacies and sugar treated as medicinal are separately well documented in Europe.
• Modelling marzipan needs more sugar than eating marzipan, since that extra sugar is what makes it hold shape — softer paste slumps and loses detail. It should feel like firm modelling clay, holding a shape without cracking and not sticking to your hands. Add liquid a teaspoon at a time near the end, since too much gives a sticky paste that is very hard to correct.
• Let shaped figures dry uncovered for several hours, better overnight, before painting: a slight dry skin forms that holds the paint cleanly, where wet marzipan smears under a brush. Build colour in thin layers with large areas first and fine detail last, and never refrigerate painted figures, since condensation makes the colours run.

History

Tallinn traces marzipan to its medieval Town Hall Pharmacy, where it was once sold as medicine.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tallinn marzipan?

Tallinn marzipan is a dessert from Estonia: hand-painted almond marzipan figures made in Old Town workshops. Tallinn traces marzipan to its medieval Town Hall Pharmacy, where it was once sold as medicine.

How long does Tallinn marzipan take to make?

Tallinn marzipan takes 30 minutes plus resting of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes makes about 600 g. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Tallinn marzipan?

Yes, within limits. Ground almonds replace whole blanched ones directly and are already fine and dry. Rose water replaces plain water for a floral note. Gel or paste food colouring is essential rather than liquid, which is too wet and runs; thin it with a drop of vodka or other clear spirit, which evaporates in seconds without wetting the surface. The alcohol involved is genuinely tiny and evaporates almost entirely, but a drop of water works less well if you prefer to avoid it.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tallinn marzipan?

Add them gradually rather than all at once. Work the mixture with your hands as you go. It comes together into a stiff paste. Add liquid a teaspoon at a time near the end. It should feel like firm modelling clay. Knead the marzipan until it is smooth. Knead it on a surface dusted with icing sugar. Work it for about three or four minutes. It becomes smooth and slightly glossy.