Things don’t always turn out as you thought they would, even if you’re supposed to be in total control of the situation.
Cooking does not escape this rule…
My objective was to bake “Mazapanes”, little almond paste treats (a relative of marzipan) served at Christmas in Spain.
They are marvelous: the rich taste of almond, encased in a small soft and colored shape (animals or geometric).
So I started with the easiest recipe I could find (there are at least two variations of the mazapan, I’ll try the other one later). Almond powder, icing sugar, water. That’s all.
First, when opening the almond powder packs, I asked myself: “This could be finer … can I do something about it?”
Well, processing already powdered almonds does not really change the situation, so this is a step I’ll happily skip next time.
Adding the same weight of icing sugar, and just enough water is not a daunting task, and it’s quite funny: when mixing icing sugar, inhaling the dust that ensues causes your throat to feel … sweet, without having eaten anything.
There, a dough is rather quickly ready for some refrigeration.
Note: you could already eat the almond paste, everything from now on is just decoration!
Rolling, cutting shapes: always funny
Following the recipe, I lightly beated an egg white, and covered my little menagerie with it
That’s where I should have listened to my mummy followed the recipe: they say “introducimos la placa en el horno durante unos 2 minutos a 200 º C de temperatura”
And what to I do? I wait the prescripted two minutes, and check the color: still white!
Then I wait for two minutes … nothing … then two more … there!
It smells nice, and everything is promptly transferred to a rack
They look good, smell good, taste good …
But they’re not mazapanes at all!
– They are too thin: mazapanes should be thicker
– They are crunchy, when they should be soft
– The almond taste is not strong enough.
In a nutshell, I’m happy with my biscuits, but not with my mazapanes.
Oh well, a small defeat turned into a small victory 🙂
Satka's corner 
It was a “happy accident”!