Chocolate-Dipped Marzipan Almond Crescent Cookies
The culinary creations over at What’s For Lunch Honey? time and time again take my breath away. There is an eclectic mix of recipes and each contains the most gorgeous photos of food that I have ever seen. These pretty marzipan cookies caught my eye immediately, and off to the grocery store I went to pick up the few ingredients that the recipe calls for.
These were so tasty! They were chewy and crunchy and sweet and decadent- a perfect texture and taste experience in my mouth! I highly recommend that you go make these little crescents right away- they’re so easy and delicious that you have no reason not to!
When I made the first batch I made them way too fat so they spread out and ended up looking like bear claws! I just ran with that and dipped only one side of those ones in chocolate. The next batches I made much thinner and they turned out great (not as beautiful as Meeta’s but still good, I think)! I am a bit perplexed though as to why mine turned out so much flatter than her’s did. I am wondering if maybe she used almond paste and not marzipan as she switches between the two terms. I’m not sure if that would have made a difference but that is the only reason I could think of.
No, I clearly did not temper the chocolate.
Chocolate-Dipped Marzipan Almond Crescent Cookies
recipe adapted from here
ingredients:
- 500g marzipan paste
- 150g granulated sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100g almonds, thinly sliced
- 200g bittersweet chocolate (I used 70%), coarsely chopped
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Mix together the marzipan, sugar, egg whites, lemon zest, and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Set a bowl of water next to you. Place the almond slices on a plate.
- Dip your fingers into the water and then tear off some of the marzipan dough. Form 2 1/2 inch logs and then form each log into a crescent (make sure they’re pretty skinny because they will puff out quite a bit). Coat the crescent with the almonds. Place on baking sheet and repeat until all dough is used.
- Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Cool the cookies on a rack.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave in 30 second intervals.
- Dip both ends of the cookies in the melted chocolate and place on a wire rack to dry.
Will try your recipe at Passover. These sound absolutely delectable.
The ingredients don't include almond oil, but the instructions do! What kind of almond oil and how much?
Rachael replied: — June 17th, 2012 @ 12:27 pm
You are absolutely right! I have fixed the recipe, now :]
I'm going to make these since I love almond crescents above all sweets. In fact, I don't really even care for sweets except king cake during Mardi Gras, marzipan, pistachio almond gelato (which I can no longer eat), and probably above all, almond crescents. They are the perfect combination of soft and crisp, sweet but with bittersweet chocolate. Amazing.
A couple questions:
What is the texture like? Is it airy and chewy or dense and chewy? Does it have a crisp(ish) outside?
Any ideas on how to "candy" the almonds? The best crescents I've had (Angelo Brocato's bakery in New Orleans), have a *very* lightly "glazed" coating of almonds. I'm new to baking sweets so I'm not sure of what makes that coating. Like this: http://s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/-uBXdHhZ86…
Thanks for the recipe, it's the closest I've found.
Rachael replied: — September 7th, 2012 @ 12:15 am
Hi Michael! Thanks for your comment!
I made these quite a while ago, but from what I remember, the texture is quite chewy, and a bit dense with small pockets of air.
I have no idea what glaze they may use, but perhaps a bit of simple syrup brushed on prior to baking?
I doubt they actually candy the almonds, but if they did, I'm sure they would just coat some sliced almonds in a water/sugar mixture (much like a simple syrup), and then allow them to dry fully before using them in a recipe!
Let me know if you have any more questions, or if this works :]!
Michael G. replied: — October 14th, 2012 @ 8:59 pm
These are them! I slightly overcooked them because my oven was being stupid and I didn't trust the thermometer but I should have. But they are perfect! Since marzipan is kind of expensive, I used half marzipan half almond paste. I added just a little extra sugar, but I don't think it matters much because marzipan and almond paste are almost identical.
I didn't glaze the almonds but I will next time. I also made them a bit too large because I underestimated the "puff".
Thanks again, these are my favorite sweets ever.
Rachael replied: — October 14th, 2012 @ 9:41 pm
So glad to hear they were what you were looking for! I underestimated their puff at first, too!
love the recipe. My grandmother used to make something like these for Chanukkah every year and I have missed them very much!
Like you (with the original recipe) I found that the dough was WAY to runny (I couldn't even roll the logs into the slivered almonds, they turned into goo!) so I added 1/3-1/2 c almond meal to the dough and it turned out perfectly!! I'm thinking it must be something to do with the variability of the density/moisture of the marzipan.
THANKS AGAIN!
Rachael replied: — November 1st, 2012 @ 12:36 am
I'm so glad that with your modifications they worked so well!
I've been meaning to make these again, and after seeing your reply, I just might this weekend!
I cut the recipe in half but accidentally added in the two egg whites instead of just one. It was runny, but it was still good! I made circle cookies instead of crescent, cooled them out of the oven then put apricot jelly in a well in the middle of the cookie, cooled them in the fridge, then dipped in chocolate. It did not have the marzipan taste to it so I sprinkled some almond extract on top and it tasted delicious! I recommend adding maybe two teaspoons of almond extract to the batter.
Can I use almond paste instead of marzipan?
Rachael replied: — May 24th, 2015 @ 3:11 pm
Hi Celna, I think you could definitely do that! However, the cookies won;t be quite as sweet, but that shouldn’t be an issue as they are dipped in chocolate 🙂