White Chocolate and Marzipan Cookies

My Grandma has always loved marzipan. So much so that the icing on Christmas cake (which typically has a layer of marzipan underneath it in the UK) has always been her favourite part of the whole cake. She used to ask us to save her big pieces of it every year.

I, however, have never really eaten marzipan apart from on the odd cake. 

That was, until we visited Toledo in Spain a few weeks ago, which is known for its locally-made, traditional marzipan. We tried a piece and to say that it tasted different from the shop-bought stuff would be an understatement.

It was creamy, almond-y and soft. Not sugary and crumbly like the stuff from the supermarket so often is.

However, Scott has a new-found love for marzipan (both the shop-bought and homemade stuff) especially if it’s coated in chocolate, so I decided that I would make some delicious white chocolate and marzipan cookies to combine the two.

We both love milk and white chocolate equally, but when it comes to cookies there is just something so much more delicious when white chocolate is used, IMO. I have a BIG sweet tooth, so it will come as no surprise to anyone that I love white chocolate cookies.

I bought a small bar of marzipan and simply chopped it into small pieces and added it to the dough for my usual white chocolate cookie recipe.

However, because marzipan is so sugary, you have to cook these cookies right away, otherwise the texture will be altered by the extra sugar.

I made the mistake of baking half of the batch and refrigerating the rest of the dough until the next day.

The cookies did not bake as well and the texture was crumbly, as opposed to chewy and soft.

However, if you’re anything like us then you will be so excited to eat the cookies that you won’t mind baking them straight away (and eating them all too…..)

White Chocolate and Marzipan Cookies

Recipe by Julia

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (120g) butter, softened

• 1/3 cup (75g) brown sugar

• 1/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 egg

• 1 cup (240g) plain flour

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 3/4 cup (100g) white chocolate, broken or chopped into small pieces

• 1/3 cup (75g) marzipan, chopped into small chunks

• Pinch of salt

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
• Cream together the butter and sugars until combined. Add the vanilla extract, stir, and then add the egg. Beat well until all ingredients are well combined.
• Add the flour (sifted) and the baking soda to the bowl and use a spoon or stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Fold in the chocolate and marzipan pieces.
• Divide the dough into golf ball sized rounds, rolling them between your palms to shape.
• Space them well apart on the baking tray and bake for around 15 minutes or until light golden and still slightly wobbly in the middle.
• Remove from the oven and allow to finish cooking on the tray for around 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

• Do not chill the dough for longer than 10 minutes before baking, otherwise they will be crumbly and dense as opposed to soft and chewy.