Grind almonds 2 or 3 times.
Beat egg whites with salt until foamy but not too stiff. Stir in the sugar gradually so it is well blended. Add the ground almonds, mix and knead well until creamy and smooth. If the paste seems too stiff, add a few drops lemon juice, one drop at a time until paste seems right to form into shapes. If it gets too thin, add more sugar.
Pack the mixture in a container with a cover and let rest in a cool place for at least 2 days to ripen. Shape into balls or other forms and roll in powdered sugar. It may also be rolled into small jelly-roll shapes and sliced.
Let stand overnight to form a crust if you would like to paint your shapes with food colorings to resemble strawberries, bananas, oranges, apricots, carrots, potatoes, etc. Use your own imagination to improvise stems and leaves when you need them.
Put almonds through a nut grinder. Measure.
Combine all ingredients with enough ice water to form a stiff paste. Pound with a wooden mallet until the grain of the nuts has become very smooth and thoroughly blended. The paste is now ready to use in marzipan.
Makes 80 squares
Boil sugar, syrup, water and vinegar to the hard-crack stage, 300º, without stirring. Remove from the fire and quickly stir in the oil of anise and the red coloring.
Pour at once into a greased shallow pan about 10"×8". When the surface of the mixture is firm enough to hold the impression of a lightly drawn line, mark into 1" squares, or smaller, with a silver knife. When colk, break along lines.
Mold fondant into balls or other shapes with your fingers and let stand overnight on a marble slab, or on waxed paper, until thoroughly hardened. The longer they harden, the better.
Melt the chocolate very slowly in the top of a broiler. When melted, add to it a lump of paraffin about the size of a walnut and a lump of butter half the size of the paraffin. Add a few drops of vanilla.
Keep the water in the lower part of the double boiler boiling to make sure the chocolate remains melted. Dip the fondant balls with tongs into the chocolate. Slip them onto waxed paper at once.
Rinse the raisins in hot water, drain and dry thoroughly.
Add raisins and almonds to half the melted chocolate. Mix well.
Cover cookie sheets with waxed paper. Pour mixture onto pans. Let cool for five minutes.
Spread remaining chocolate over mixture. Let hardena few minutes. Cut into desired shapes.
Put the sugars, syruo and sour cream in a saucepan and stir until well mixed. Bring to a boil. Boil to a firm-ball stage (245º).
Remove from fire and stir in the coconut, vanilla and butter. Pour the mixture into a buttered pan, mark into squares before it cools, and wrap squares individually in waxed paper when cold.
Dissolve the sugar and water in a saucepan and add the ground almonds. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan.
Remove from fire and turn out on a marble slab or spotlessly clean table top. Knead until smooth, adding the extract and coloring a few drops at a time while mixture is still warm.
Mold into any desired shapes.
Dissolve the sugar in the water. Cook without stirring to 255º (the hard-ball stage).
While the syrup is cooking, add the salt to the egg whites and then beat them until frothy.
Remove the syrup from the flame when it forms a hard ball and pour gradually over the egg whites, beating constantly. Add the vanilla. Continue beating until candy cools and will hold its shape. Drop by spoonfuls onto a buttered pan and mark into squares.
Boil rapidly together over a quick flame to the soft-ball stage. Remove from heat. Let cool to lukewarm before proceeding to use any of the recipes which follow (or others of your choice) for bonbons or creams. Yields about 1½ pounds fondant.
NOTES : Frequent testing of the syrup is of paramount importance to the success of this. To prepare the fondant which is the creamy foundation for bonbons and exquisite creams, the syrup must be removed from the flame at the soft-ball stage - 238º. Do not stir the syrup while it is cooking. Do stir sugar and water together until the sugar is completely dissolved before cooking.
If the syrup should grain, add a few drops of boiling water until grains are dissolved.
See also Uncooked Fondant.
Mix almond paste, syrup and marshmallow cream in a bowl and mix well. Add the sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture holds its shape. Let stand overnight. Add desired flavoring extract and knead the marzipan well, adding a little more sugar if necessary to make it retain its shape.
Break off chunks and form into shapes and sizes of your pleasure, using different colorings to suit the objects you're simulating. Roll in powdered sugar. Let stand until dry.
Rub almonds into the fondant with a wooden spoon.
Put sugar and water in a pan and heat slowly until sugar is dissolved. Add the syrup and let come to a boil, without stirring, until it forms a hard ball when tested in cold water. Add the fondant-almond blend at once and stir until it begins to harden.
Turn out on marble slab and knead until smooth. Add flavoring and food coloring while warm.
This marzipan will keep well if wrapped in waxed paper and a clean, soft cloth and stored in an airtight can in your refrigerator or freezer.
Make a syrup by boiling the water and the sugar 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove from fire. Immerse the fruit in the saucepan of syrup for about 2 hours. Strain off the syrup, which may be used for other candies or frostings.
Spread fruit on a flat pan or cookie sheet. Place in a warm oven with the door of the oven open and the heat turned off. When moisture has dried off the fruit, the sugar will have crystallized. Remove and store.
Any of the following fruits can be crystallized in this manner: grapes, plums, cherries, sections of oranges and lemons, grapefruit, tangerines, or pineapple.
Mix water, sugar and syrup and boil until a few drops of the mixture form hard, brittle threads when dropped into coild water (230-240º).
Remove from flame and add the oil of anise. Pour into well greased pans. Mark into squares when the candy begins to cool, and break off as soon as possible.
Beat as much of the powdered sugar as is required to make a stiff mixture into the mashed potatoes while they are very hot.
Add any food coloring desired. Add pecans and vanilla.
Roll into small balls.
This confection stays fresh and flavorful for a long time.
Makes ~2 pounds
Mix egg white and water together. Whip in sugar a small amount at a time until you have a paste which will stand in a stiff peak and hold any shape you mold it into with your fingers.
Color and flavor this as you wish or in accordance with the directionsin your favorite recipe. Use all the fondant because it will harden rather quickly. This recipe may be substituted, as a center, for cooked fondant whenever you wish.
Sift the confectioner's and granulated sugars together. Add the ground almonds and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until frothy and blend into them the sugar and almond mixture. Add the extract and coloring.
Knead on a marble slab or table top until smooth. Add a little more sugar if necessary to form a stiff paste. Allow mixture to stand for a few hours. Then press small pieces into molds, or shape with your fingers as your skill and fancy dictate. Use the entire recipe at once. The mixture can't be saved for later shaping.