Vegan marzipan truffles – 2 ways

Vegan marzipan truffles – 2 ways

vegan marzipan truffles drying

If you are marzipan fans then you are in for a treat today. At Duncan’s request, I made a big stash of vegan marzipan truffles. They are sooooo simple and so much fun to make too.

Traditionally marzipan is made with blanched almonds, but I also tried using unblanched ones to a very good effect. The taste is a bit more pronounced, especially if you toast them lightly on a dry pan before grinding them into an almond meal and the resulting marzipan paste has little brown specks in it but that’s hardly a problem. Unfortunately, they disappeared so quickly that I didn’t manage to take a photo.

I’m guessing that some of you won’t be that keen on using icing sugar so I made a version with maple syrup too. Whenever I develop recipes, we have this tug of war in Lazy Cat Kitchen’s ‘headquarters’.

I always try to make things as healthy as possible and Duncan insists that since veganism isn’t a diet I should stick to traditional ingredients if they are vegan. As I know that some of you are definitely with me, I made two different versions of these truffles. My version uses maple syrup instead and Duncan’s uses traditional icing sugar so I’m hoping to make everyone happy.

vegan marzipan truffles

vegan marzipan truffles drying

vegan marzipan truffles cross section

makes
24 truffles
PREP
45 min
COOKING
0 min
makes
24 truffles
PREPARATION
45 min
COOKING
0 min
INGREDIENTS

MARZIPAN – REFINED SUGAR FREE VERSION

  • 300 g blanched* almonds or 300 g / 3 cups almond meal
  • 10 tsp / 50 ml maple syrup
  • 8 tsp / 40 ml amaretto
  • 1 tsp lemon zest form an unwaxed lemon (optional)

MARZIPAN – TRADITIONAL VERSION

  • 300 g blanched* almonds or 300 g / 3 cups almond meal
  • 10 tsp finely ground sugar or icing sugar**
  • 3 tbsp / 45 ml amaretto
  • 7 tsp / 35 ml almond milk or water
  • 2 tsp / 10 ml lemon juice

OTHER INGREDIENTS

  • 175 g vegan dark chocolate
  • 50 g vegan milk chocolate, for decorating (optional)
  • handful of raw almonds, finely chopped (optional)
METHOD
  1. Place almonds in a coffee grinder or food processor and process until you get fine almond meal. Do not push it too far as eventually almond meal will start turning into almond butter.
  2. Transfer almond meal into a bowl and add lemon zest (if making refined sugar free version) or icing sugar (if making traditional version). Mix well.
  3. Mix amaretto and maple syrup (for refined sugar free version) or amaretto, lemon juice and almond milk (for traditional version) in a separate bowl.
  4. Turn almond meal mixture out onto a clean work surface and drizzle wet ingredients over it. Knead the mixture briefly, just long enough for it to come together. Wrap in a piece of cling film and chill in the fridge.
  5. Break chocolate into small pieces and melt it gently over a bowl of boiling water (bain marie). Make sure the water does not touch the bowl with chocolate. You can also temper your chocolate as it gives it a nice shine, makes it less sensitive to heat and gives the chocolate shell a nice crunch. I followed the method detailed in this article.
  6. Take marzipan out of the fridge. Pinch small pieces of marzipan and roll them into equal size balls. Use kitchen scales if you want to be exact (my truffles were 15 g each before dipping in chocolate).
  7. Dip marzipan balls in melted chocolate and place them on a drying rack for the chocolate to dry. Place in the fridge if you want to speed up the drying process.
  8. Melt milk chocolate over a bain marie and drizzle the truffles with it once they are completely dry. Sprinkle with finely chopped almonds.
NOTES
*Traditional marzipan uses blanched almonds, but for those of you who are keen on wholefoods, unblanched (lightly toasted) almonds also work. The flavour is more pronounced and marzipan made this way has tiny specks of brown but it tastes just as nice. You can also take skins off unblanched almonds by soaking them in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

**Most icing sugar these days appears to have cornflour / cornstarch added in so I would recommend making your own icing sugar by grinding regular sugar in a coffee grinder until you get a fine powder.

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NUTRITIONAL INFO
calories
123
6%
sugars
8 g
9%
fats
8 g
11%
saturates
1 g
7%
proteins
3 g
6%
carbs
10 g
4%
*per truffle
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5.0
3 reviews, 15 comments
REVIEWS & QUESTIONS
Alison Burnell:
Many thanks for your reply. I will try your suggestions 😊
    Ania
    Ania:
    My pleasure, hope it works out well. Ania
Alison Burnell:
Would this marzipan work on top of my Christmas cake? 😊
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Alison,
    I *think* so but you may need to adjust (probably add more) the level of moisture to make sure it is the right consistency. You may also want to add a touch (2 tbsp or so) of flavourless coconut oil like thisto help with flexibility. Hope this helps! Ania
Harriet:
Hey,
These look great! Would you be able to freeze them?
Thank you
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Harriet,
    I have not tried that but I don't see why not! Ania
Bernadette:
Didn't have amaretto, so tried it with almond extract and maple syrup. Delicious! Can't wait to try it with amaretto.
BTW, I'm totally with you on keeping ingredients as healthy as possible. No reason not to, especially when it tastes so good.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Bernadette! Glad to hear that you enjoyed them! x Ania
Anca:
I tried the refined sugar free version- absolutely delicious!! I found that the Amaretto and maple syrup mix to perfection with the blanched almonds meal, the proportions of the ingredients are very well calibrated, the resulting marzipan has an amazing flavor, one of the best I've tasted! Congratulations for the recipe!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks so much, Anca! Your comment put a big smile on my face! x Ania
Bre:
Would I be able to skip the amaretto???
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Bre,
    You could replace it with another liqueur, otherwise it will lack taste. Or could compensate for it with more almond essence and almond milk perhaps - you won't be able to simply skip it as the moisture is needed for the truffles to stick together. Hope that helps! Ania
Mariana:
I´m very excited about making these! But i've got a question, how long do you think they last?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Mariana :) I hope you'll like them. I would say about 4-5 days in the fridge for sure. There is not a lot that can spoil inside them (dairy, eggs) but they may dry out a bit. Hope that helps! Ania
Kelly:
Hey there! Could you use pre-ground almond meal for these, like the kind Trader Joe's sells? I'm guessing yes. :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hey Kelly,
    Sure you can! Believe it or not but it's really hard to get almond meal here so whatever I manage to get I'm saving for the desserts like macaroons where you really want that fine crumb, for the rest I just grind my own.
    Ania
Food Porn, Vegan Style:
They are gorgeous <3 I love homemade marzipan, it's so easy to make and tastes so goood :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you! :)
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