Christmas goodies

[enitharmon]

'Tis the season to set about making the little bits of goodies. There's a cake to be marzipanned and iced, and there's that traditional rich treat of this part of the world, rum butter.

Both marzipan and rum butter are simple to make, and much, much better than ready-prepared-and-chemically-preserved products available in supermarkets.



For marzipan you need:

500 g ground almonds
250 g icing sugar
1 large egg
3 tsps lemon juice

That's all. No artificial flavouring, no yellow chemical dye. Note that this marzipan is a delicate straw colour, not bright yellow.

Mix almonds and sugar in a bowl. Beat the egg, and add the lemon juice. Add the egg and lemon mixture to the bowl and mix to a stiff dough. Knead the dough on a board dusted with icing sugar. Use as required.

Lovers of The Amber Spyglass know very well just how orgasmic marzipan can be! (Well, they do if they have read the British edition rather than the American one.)



Rum butter is even easier. You need:

250 g butter (unsalted, natch!)
500 g soft brown sugar (light or dark is immaterial but I prefer dark)
1 generous slosh of rum (I use Appleton's Jamaica Rum but any dark rum will do at a pinch. White rum, like Bacardi, is of course rubbish)
nutmeg

Melt the butter in a pan. Stir in the sugar. Slosh in the rum (I find about two shot glasses is about right if I'm being really fussy). Grate nutmeg into the mix to taste (pre-grated nutmeg is naff). Pour into a bowl and leave in a cool place to set. Keep your grubby fingers out of it!

[Poll #893061]

Comments

[thermalsatsuma.livejournal.com]

~drool~

[tvor.livejournal.com]

Is the marzipan the right consistency to ice a cake with or would you have to add something to it or put less almonds in it to make it the right consistency?

[swanofkennet.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely right for my Christmas cake. I know it doesn't sound like much liquid but you don't need much.

[pussreboots.livejournal.com]

Do you grind the almonds yourself?

[swanofkennet.livejournal.com]

Um, no but I suppose one could by putting flaked almonds in a coffee grinder. Unlike with the nutmeg, though, there's nothing to be gained from fresh grinding.

[zerotonin.livejournal.com]

The rum butter - I'm definitly trying that one out. It's...um...appropriate for my skill level.