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Marzipan is a simple sweetened almond paste that can be used as both a filler for pastries and cookies, and a baker’s clay to create edible cake toppers and decorations. The only problem with it is that it’s often so sweet as to make your teeth ache! If you need a keto marzipan recipe that’s lighter on the carbs but still has all the flavor you’re craving, search no further! Here’s our super simple recipe for both keto marzipan and almond paste.

Other Low Carb Treats for Later:

Keto “Sugar Plum” Fat Bombs

Almond Flour Pizzelle Cookies

Low Carb Herbal Macaroons

Marzipan and almond paste pop up in several European and Nordic celebration dishes where you’ll run into it as you create your hygge homestead this holiday season. They’re also an American favorite, especially in old timey recipes!

Almond paste and marzipan are almost interchangeable, to be honest, but they do have some subtle differences.

Can Almond Paste Replace Marzipan?

Both almond paste and marzipan contain almonds, a sweetner, and egg whites. However, if we’re being specific, marzipan is a kind of almond paste; there are several others.

So, the short answer is yes, in a pinch, almond paste can replace marzipan in a recipe. However, you can also simply add more sweetner and egg whites to almond paste and, voila, you have marzipan!

Ususally, there’s more almond content and flavor in almond paste than in marzipan because marzipan gets diluted with more sugar and egg whites. This makes marzipan smoother and more maleable if you’re shaping sweets for something like a gingerbread house.

Here are some keto marzipan wafers we made for our last gingerbread house – we use them as roof tiles!

Keto Marzipan & Almond Paste Recipe

The first step to making keto marzipan is to make keto almond paste, so there are two recipes here. If you just want a filling for cookies and sweet breads, you can stop with almond paste. If you want to be able to shape the paste, make marzipan.

Keto Marzipan & Almond Paste

Homestead Lady Tessa Zundel

Make the base almond paste with keto ingredients and then expand it to create keto marzipan for a healthier holiday baking experience.

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Prep Time 20

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, British, Seasonal

Servings Cups

Ingredients

Ingredients for Keto Almond Paste

2 Cups Fine Almond Flour
2 Cup Powdered Xylitol or Monk Fruit Sugar
1 Large Egg White May use pasteurized
1 Dash Sea Salt
1 tsp. Almond Extract May substitute vanilla

Ingredients for Keto Marzipan

2 Cups Keto Almond Paste
2-4 Cups Powdered Xylitol or Monk Fruit Sugar
2-4 Large Egg Whites May use pasteurized
1 tsp. Rose Water*, optional
1 tsp. Food grade color, optional I use India Tree for natural color

Instructions

Make Keto Almond Paste

Mix 2 cups of finely ground almond flour with 1 cup of powdered keto friendly sugar. Add the pinch of sea salt and mix.
Add 1 large egg white and 1 tsp. of almond extract to taste. Mix well in a food processor, stand mixer, or with your hands. Mix until the paste is cohesive. You may add a bit more egg white, if necessary, 1/8 of a teaspoon at a time. Mix very well.
Roll into a log, cover in an air tight container of plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Keep refrigerated for about a month.

Make Keto Marzipan

If almond paste is refrigerated, remove 2 cups and bring to room temperature in a covered container.
Place 2 cups of keto almond paste and roughly 2 cups of keto powdered sugar into a bowl. The more sugar you add, the stiffer the dough will be, so this amount is adjustable to your needs.
Add 2 egg whites, 1 tsp. of rose water, if using. You use rose syrup instead. Add 1 tsp. of food grade color, if using. Mix well in a food processor, stand mixer, or with your hands. Adjust egg white amount as needed for consistency.
Use as baker's modeling clay and leave to dry once shaped.

Notes

*Rose water is a traditional addition to marzipan in places like Germany, but many flavors can be and are used around the world. For example, you can swap out rose water for rose syrup as the French might do. In fact, they might replace the powdered sugar entirely with rose syrup!

When making marzipan, keep in mind what you'll be using it for. If you want something akin to fondant to put over holiday cakes, use less sugar and more egg whites to create a smooth but rollable paste.

If you want something much stiffer for shaping gingerbread house decorations, add more sugar. This is the chief difference between almond paste and marzipan; marzipan has more sugar so that it forms more of a clay texture that will hold its shape.

I like India Tree brand natural colors for tinting marzipan without all the chemicals in other commercial dyes. The colors are more muted than standard dyes, but they also don't make us sick.

And I think they're lovely even if they aren't bright enough to be seen from space.

Keyword keto, marzipan

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

FAQs Keto Marzipan

Here are a few questions you might have about making or using keto marzipan.

Is there a nut free alternative to marzipan?

Nope, there really isn’t a nut-free alternative to keto marzipan. You could try using soaked cashews to replace the almonds, but those are still nuts. It’s the almonds that give marzipan that delectable flavor and consistency.

You could try using coconut meat, but I’ve never done that and can’t give you anything but encouragement to try it!

What is the difference between almond paste and marzipan?

We’ve covered this, but just to be sure we’re on the same page: the main difference between keto almond paste and keto marzipan is that marzipan has more sugar and more egg whites. The reason for this is that marzipan is often used to create shaped decorations for cakes and other sweets.

Think of marzipan like edible playdough.

Is marzipan full of sugar?

Normally, yes marzipan has a great deal of powdered sugar in order to help it keep its shape. With this keto recipe, you can reduce the amount of carbs per tablespoon of marzipan.

You should bear in mind that keto marzipan is a treat that you eat during special times and holidays. If ketosis is your goal, be careful how much you consume.

Even if you aren’t aiming for ketosis, this keto marzipan can help you reduce your sugar intake during the holidays. While keto is an all-or-nothing diet, a lower-carb and no sugar diet is a little more flexible.

What ingredient is added to sugar when making modeling marzipan?

Modeling marzipan is almond paste, additional egg whites for stickiness, and additional powdered sugar for strength. You will find that various cultures use various kinds of sugar. For example, the French version of marzipan often calls for rose syrup or other flavored syrups instead of powdered sugar.

–>>Visit our article to learn to Make Herbal Rose Syrup for natural sweetness<<–

Why is marzipan so expensive?

Marzipan can be expensive because it’s a specialty item that really isn’t used outside of special holidays. That’s why making it yourself is a great solution to both the problem of high cost and unsavory ingredients. When you make keto marzipan yourself at home, you control both!

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