Marzipan/ almond paste hearts

I am not sure which word is used more often ... marzipane or almond paste. Anyway ...
This is another gift my daughter gave her daddy for Valentine's Day. These are marzipan hearts! (Her daddy loves marzipan.) This also is a really great activity for kids since they can do almost everything on their own. All you need is

- almond paste/ marzipan (the kind for baking)
- powdered sugar
- food coloring (optional)
- small cookie cutters (also optional)
- chocolate

1. Knead the marzipan together with a bit of powdered sugar. Use enough powered sugar to keep the marzipan from sticking to your (or your kiddos) hands.

It is not essential to try to get as much powdered sugar as possible onto the kid's clothes! But it does add to the fun - at least for the kids! ;-)

2. If you want to add some food coloring. We used red food coloring to make red hearts.

3. Shape your sweets. Either flaten the marzipan a bit and use small cookie cutters or just form small things with your hands (like balls, hearts, pretzels). You can basically do anything with it that you can do with play dough. :-)


4. Melt chocolate! Either do this over hot water or in the microwave. I prefer the microwave cause it is quicker. You have to make sure though that the power is low and you only use short intervalls and check often so the chocolate does not burn.
Use your favourite kind of chocolate - or different ones for fun! We used dark and white chocolate. (This step should NOT be done by kids as the chocolate will get very hot!)

5. You can either coat the marzipan with chocolate (by dipping it in or brushin it on) or sprinkle it over the marzipan. We first dipped the marzipan hearts into dark chocolate and let it set. Afterwards we sprinkled white and black chocolate over the hearts.

Easy and quick. And yummy - well, if you like marzipan!