Smoky Marzipan & Spiced Plum Scones

A new take on a classic that’s scratching the itch for fall baking.

Hey everyone!

wow. It’s August.

I know it’s still so so hot out here but we’re finally in a month that at least sounds a bit more like autumn. I’ll focus on a silver lining even if one doesn’t exist. ha.

Despite the heat, I’ve been trying to push myself to visit the market as often as I can because we really are at the peak of produce right now. The tomatoes are heavy and ready to burst. I like to think of this stretch of summer as the ideal time to make a “mater sandwich” as my granny used to call them.

A few years ago I wrote an Instagram post about how special this sandwich is for me. I eat a few of them every year during these sweltering weeks and a lot of good memories flood back to me with every bite. For the record, I come from a Hellmann’s or Kraft family but these days my go to is Kewpie Mayo.

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Today’s recipe features an ingredient that I think some might call divisive. Marzipan is an almond based confectionary that is composed of a higher sugar to almond ratio than it’s similar and often confused cousin, almond paste. My aim was to balance marzipan’s sometimes cloying sweetness with complexity from smoked almonds and a touch of honey.

I remember when I was growing up my great aunt would have little marzipan fruits in her house around Christmas, a tradition she had returned with to Alabama from a short time living in Germany. She’s one of the few family members I have who have traveled overseas and her stories always excited and confused me as a young kid. I couldn’t really conceive of another country quite yet and the marzipan, sweet noodle kugel, and spinning Christmas pyramids might as well have been from another planet.

Since then, I’ve slowly grown to really appreciate anything almond flavored. Almond paste, marzipan, frangipane, a fragrant almond cake - you name it, if it has the subtle florality of almond extract, i’ll most likely enjoy it and ask for more.

I knew for this recipe though that I wanted to lean into a different side of almond’s flavor. I wanted to focus on the slow earned flavor of smoked almonds. To make my smoky marzipan, I turned to a couple experts with much more experience making (and sculpting) traditional marzipan. Their approaches helped me build a sound recipe that diverged from tradition.

Camilla Wynne is a cookbook author, teacher, and Master Food Preserver with a brilliant book all about making jam and how to use it creativity in baked goods called Jam Bake. She has a marzipan recipe online that uses a hot sugar syrup akin to the way you would make sesame halva. Her instructions produce a firm but still malleable marzipan that’s ideal for shaping the traditional fruits and figurines used for decoration and gifts.

Renato Poliafito, owner of Ciao Gloria in Brooklyn, just wrote a beautiful book all about Italian and Italian American pastry and desserts called Dolci. In it, Renato has a recipe for Cassata, which is a Sicilian spongecake draped in thinly rolled pistachio marzipan. Initially, I had a theory that I could probably grind my own nuts for marzipan, which would open the door to so many exciting options. This cassata recipe helped confirm that theory and I took some pointers from the process.

I love that the marzipan I’ve created holds its shape until it reaches the oven where it gently melts into the scone dough creating layers of flavor right along side the flecks of butter and sweet plums. I also think this marzipan would be great for a cheese platter or snack plate. Chilling the log and then thinly slicing it yields irresistible little coins that straddle the sweet/savory line nicely.

A few notes…

• The marzipan can be made a week before you make the scones. It keeps really well wrapped tightly in the fridge or can last even longer, about 3 months, if frozen. Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge before using.

• The brand of smoked almonds isn’t too important but try to find an almond that you enjoy eating and that has as few ingredients as possible. If you really don’t want to make marzipan from scratch (I totally feel you) you can chop the smoked almonds and use an equal weight of them for the recipe.

• The plums here could be swapped for another stone fruit and the lime zest could be orange or even lemon if you wanted a brighter pop of acidity. In this recipe, the spices are meant to be subtle background notes. We’re not in full on holiday baking mode just yet but feel free to increase the amount of spice if you’d like.

• Scones benefit from a hot oven and heat from all angles - not just from below. My oven is small so I use a quarter sized sheet tray (about 13x9 inches) for greater heat circulation. I place the scones in the upper part of the oven for a more even bake and slightly less dark bottoms.

Smoked Almond Marzipan

(makes enough for 2 to 3 batches of scones)