Frohe Weihnachten! Part 4: Marzipan Slices

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the fourth part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits: delicious marzipan filled biscuit slices!

From my personal observation, Germany loves Christmas, and Germany loves marzipan. It makes perfect sense, then, that Germans would combine the two to make delicious Christmas marzipan biscuits.

These started off life as a different concept, but evolved. Here, you see they are individually sliced biscuits, in a slice-and-bake style. However, my first attempt at these was based on German recipes that I read online, that instructed the baker to cook the whole filled log and slice it after baking. This technique was unsuccessful; twice. I found that chilling the log entirely then slicing it made for much nicer looking biscuits. Maybe I just wasn't using the right kind of pastry, or the correct oven temperature. Either way, I prefer the slice and bake method.

As you can see on mine, the marzipan isn't entirely in the centre. Be careful when you're wrapping the biscuit pastry around the marzipan log.

INGREDIMENTS

6 ounces (170 grammes) salted butter, at room temperature

6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar

1 medium egg

12 ounces (340 grammes) plain white flour: spelt, wheat, or gluten-free

2 tsps vanilla essence

1/2 tsp almond essence

A pinch of salt

1 pound (455 grammes) white marzipan, tinted in different Christmassy colours

METHOD

• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and essences until fully incorporated.
• Sieve in the flour and salt and mix in by hand or with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. It will be slightly dry, but don't worry: that's what gives them such a delicate, sandy texture.
• Flatten into a disc and wrap in cling film, and chill for half an hour, until it's firm to the touch.
• Divide the marzipan into two or more Christmassy colours, and roll into ropes. Use the coloured ropes to make a larger twisted rope about an inch (2.5 centimetres) thick. Just play with it until it's the right thickness.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough to a quarter-inch (5 millimetres) thick, and as wide as the marzipan rope is long, trimming the edges if needed. Brush the marzipan rope with water and place on the edge of the dough sheet. Roll up the marzipan with the dough until is it evenly wrapped; trim the excess. Depending on your shaping and sizing, you might have enough dough leftover to make a few cut-outs.
• Wrap up the whole roll in cling film and chill completely, at least 2 hours or even overnight. 
• Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2). Line one or two flat baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• Slice the dough log into half-inch (1 centimetre) slices and place on the baking sheet(s) about an inch (2.5 centimetres) apart.
• Bake for 12 minutes, turning the tray(s) around halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven, and allow the biscuits to cool for 5 minutes before transferring the biscuits to a wire rack: the marzipan filling is very soft and sticky immediately after coming out of the oven, so it will get completely messed up if you try to transfer them immediately.