A classic gets a low carb makeover! Sugar-free marzipan makes a wonderful Valentine’s Day treat. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.
Marzipan is one of those love it or hate it foods and I fall firmly into the love it camp. Even as a child, I found that intensely almond flavoured paste delicious, and was very taken with the colourful animals, and fruits, and other fun shapes people made with marzipan. So, as with so many other foods, I was a little sad when diabetes took marzipan out of the picture for me. But then, as with so many other foods, I came to realize that marzipan didn’t HAVE to be made with sugar. I started investigating making my own marzipan a while ago but never really gave it a try until last December. And although marzipan is often seen as a Christmas treat, I decided that shaped into hearts and dipped in chocolate, it would be an ideal Valentine’s Day sweet as well.
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So so so easy to make, as it turns out. I simply combined Bob’s Red Mill almond meal with sweetener, egg white powder, water and some flavourings in my food processor. It comes together into a dough very quickly and voila, you have marzipan that you can mold or shape to your little heart’s desire.
I researched several recipes to get it right and found that this one from Daring Gourmet gave me the best guidance. She pointed out that real marzipan has to have a little rosewater in it, but I found that I had to cut back on the amount because it was far to strong and overpowered the almond flavour for me (it may be that my rose water has a more intense flavour). I also used egg white powder and water in place of the raw egg white. You could certainly do raw egg white or you could do 2 tbsp of pasteurized egg whites, but the egg white powder certainly makes it easy.
As for molding and shaping it, that is up to you, my friends. I had these cute little silicone molds in various shapes and I simply pushed the soft marzipan into them and then froze them before dipping in chocolate. You could use any sort of candy molds to do this, or you could roll the marzipan out between sheets of waxed paper and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. So many wonderful options.
So this recipe goes out to my fellow marzipan lovers. It’s easy to whip up a batch of low carb marzipan for Valentine’s Day or any other holiday!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. All opinions are my own.
- 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill almond meal
- 1 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tsp egg white powder
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp rose water
- 2 tbsp water
- 4 ounces sugar-free dark chocolate chopped
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In a food processor, combine almond meal, powdered sweetener, and egg white powder. Pulse to combine. Add almond extract, rose water, and water and continue to process until dough forms.
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Take small pieces of dough and press into heart-shaped candy molds. Alternatively, you could roll the dough into a rough rectangle between sheets of parchment and cut out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Freeze molds or shapes until dough is frozen, about 2 hours.
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Set chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until melted. Using a fork, dip each piece of marzipan into chocolate and tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate.
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Place on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet and let set, 20 to 30 minutes.
Serves 12 (how many pieces you get depends on you big your molds or cookie cutters are). Each serving has 2.38 g NET CARBS.
Food energy: 122kcal
Total fat: 10.58g
Calories from fat: 95
Cholesterol: 1mg
Carbohydrate: 7.03g
Total dietary fiber: 4.65g
Protein: 3.56g
Used to make this recipe:
Becky Gardiner says
These look great! Love marzipan! If using liquid egg whites I would assume the 2 Tablespoons of water would be eliminated, right? Also, the rose water is pretty pricey. Though it won’t be as authentic, can another flavoring that I may already have in my cabinet be used instead?
Carolyn says
Yup, leave out the water. Maybe just vanilla?
Carrie says
As much as I love almonds, I have never cared for marzipan and I think it’s because of the almond extract. I’m going to try this with vanilla, because I’ll bet that would be amazing! And thanks for the Bob’s Red Mill shout out!
Carolyn says
That would be pretty tasty too, I would imagine!
Aimee @ ShugarySweets says
Oh my gosh, these are so adorable! I love marzipan too, these are awesome!
Sarah G says
Ok, this is weird but I don’t think I’ve ever eaten marzipan! What is it like, candy or cookie or something else? I’m so curious.
Carolyn says
It’s a candy filling, very strongly almond flavoured.
Sarah G says
That sounds like something I need to try. Thanks!
fabiola@notjustbaked says
Almond meal lovers unite! This is a perfect recipe, especially with chocolate!
Nicole says
I love how simple these are to make! And so cute, too!
Chris Sanchez says
You make me very happy….and the ladies at quilt bee are pretty thrilled too….
Denise says
Mold, schmold. You can have the ones from the mold. I want that big honker at the back of the picture!
tanya says
I have very little experience with marzipan, but you make it look so easy and so good! I feel like I have to try now!
Peabody (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)L says
I’m in the love it category too. Never considered making my own, great idea. And Bob’s is the best.
Karen says
OMG – Thank you sounds amazing, I agree with Denise, gemme the big honker – lol 🙂
Heidi says
I tried these the other day. They were delicious and addictive. Tasted just like I remembered from childhood. I opted to roll them into balls and then dip in the chocolate. Thank you for all you do. Your recipes are so tasty!
Carolyn says
So glad you liked them!
Karen says
These are really, really delicious! Had no rose water so I used vanilla as suggested. That was the only change. I rolled mine out and used a 1-1/4″ heart shaped cookie cutter. I made them about 1/4″ thick so I got 33 pieces. Thank you for your fabulous recipes!
Carolyn says
Glad you liked them!
Barb says
Can fresh egg white be used in this recipe? If so what would the amount be? One poster asked about liquid egg whites is that the same as fresh? Thanks in advance for your help.
Aly says
I think it’s 2 TBSP raw or liquid egg whites. That replaces the 2 TBSP water plus 2 tsp egg white powder.
jillian says
Yum! Would honeyville almond flour work or is the Bob’s a different texture?
Carolyn says
Bob’s is coarser so it is a different texture, but since you are grinding it all up together, it shouldn’t matter for this recipe.
Linda says
Hi Carolyn,
I was wondering if the egg white powder (or liquid) was needed as a binding agent? Would I be able to substitute Whey Protein Isolate? I’m going to make these today, starting with blanched almonds…….I love! marzipan.
Carolyn says
It is necessary as a binding agent so I don’t think the whey would work.
Unterderlaterne says
This was my favourite treat as child.in Germany. Every Christmas there they were–Marzipan-Potatoes, .in-stead of chocolate they were rolled in cinnamon .. I swapped the chocolate bars for Marzipan with my brothers .
Rachel Horowitz says
Is Egg White powder the same as powdered Egg White Protein? I’m guessing it is, as egg whites are the on,y ingredient … I just bought a small hat of Egg White Protein at Trader Joe’s, in what now seems like a fortuitous move!
Carolyn says
Yes, that should be fine!
patricia says
I do not have almond meal, only Honeyville almond flour. Would that work? If so, how much?
Thank you.
Carolyn says
That will work just fine, use the same amount.
Beth says
Have you used this recipe to make Almond Macaroons?
Lorene says
I am looking for a recipe for a sugar free almond paste to make Italian pignoli nut cookies with. Do you think this recipe for marzipan would work or is it something totally different?
Carolyn says
I think it would be close but it needs to be looser, less thick. Adding an egg yolk might help. I’ve been thinking of the same recipe myself!