1. Blanch the almonds in boiling water in a saucepan. Return to a boil. Cover, remove from the heat, and allow to soak for 5 minutes. Drain.

2. Coarsely grind the nuts in a food processor.

3. Combine the sugar, water, and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Cook to 118°C, following the Standard Wet-Sugar Cooking Technique and Theory (see page 219).

4. Pour the hot syrup over the chopped nuts in a stainless-steel bowl. Mix together lightly.

5. Pour the syrup-coated nuts onto an oiled marble slab. Allow to cool to room temperature.

6. Grind half of the batch at a time in a food processor until it reaches the desired fi ne consistency. (This may take 10 minutes or more.) If the marzipan separates during the grinding process, add a small quantity of liquid, such as spirit or boiled syrup, to restore the emulsion.

7. Combine the ground batches of marzipan. Allow to cool to room temperature, roll, and use as desired. (Marzipan may be made up days in advance.)

• CASHEW MARZIPAN: Replace half the almonds with cashews. Cook the sugar to 120°C.
• HAZELNUT MARZIPAN: Replace half the almonds with hazelnuts. Cook the sugar to 115°C.
• PISTACHIO MARZIPAN: Replace half the almonds with skinned pistachios. Cook the sugar to 122°C.
• PORT WINE MARZIPAN: Cook the sugar with 2 g of ground cinnamon and one split, scraped vanilla bean. Cook the sugar to 135°C. Remove the vanilla bean prior to grinding. Slowly stream about 80 g of port wine into the nuts during grinding. (The exact amount of port will vary, depending on the desired consistency.)
• TOASTED ALMOND MARZIPAN: Lightly toast the almonds prior to blanching. Cook the sugar to 114°C.
• TOASTED HAZELNUT MARZIPAN: Replace half the almonds with toasted hazelnuts. Cook the sugar to 114°C.
• WALNUT MARZIPAN: Replace half the almonds with walnuts. Cook the sugar to 116°C.