Marzipan

Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract.

It is often made into sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imitations of fruits and vegetables. It can also be used in biscuits or rolled into thin sheets and glazed for icing cakes, primarily birthday cakes, wedding cakes and Christmas cakes. Marzipan may also be used as a baking ingredient, as in stollen or banket. In some countries, it is shaped into small figures of animals as a traditional treat for New Year's Day or Christmas. Marzipan is also used in Tortell, and in some versions of king cake eaten during the Carnival season.

The Geographical indications and traditional specialities in the European Union recognize two marzipans in Europe: one in Toledo (Spain) and one in Lübeck (Germany).

In Spain, marzipan is a traditional Christmas dessert (mazapán), although in Toledo, where the first written reference to this product dates back to 1512, it is eaten all year round. In Italy, particularly in Palermo, marzipan (marzapane) is often shaped and painted with food colourings to resemble fruit—frutta martorana—especially during the Christmas season and on Il Giorno dei Morti (All Souls' Day) on November 2. May 9 and 10 are also special days for eating marzipan in Sicily. In Portugal, where the confection has been traditionally made by nuns, marzipan (maçapão) is used to make fruit-shaped sweets; in the Algarve region in particular it is a very common sweet, where it is shaped like fruits and filled with Fios de ovos. There are other regions, as Toledo in Spain, in which marzipan (mazapán) is shaped into simple animal shapes, and sometimes filled with egg yolk (yema) and sugar. In Greece and Cyprus, marzipan is made in a variety of shapes and sizes and is almost always left white.^{[citation needed]} In the islands of the Aegean in particular, white marzipan is considered a wedding treat and is served to guests at wedding feasts.^{[citation needed]} In Malta, marzipan is used as a filling in the traditional Maltese Easter treats called figolli (singular: figolla). It is also popular in Turkey, where it is called badem ezmesi. There are two regional variations registered in the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.

In Denmark, Sweden and Norway, it is customary to snack on marzipan pigs around Christmas, marzipan shaped as eggs around Easter, and kransekage on New Year's Eve. It is also used in a wide variety of cakes and confectioneries unrelated to the holidays, including træstammer, gåsebryst, and napoleonshatte, and as an ingredient in remonce-filling for Danish pastry.

In Tallinn, Estonia there is a museum with a collection of items about the history and manufacture of marzipan.

Traditional Swedish princess cake is typically covered with a layer of marzipan that has been tinted pale green or pink.

Traditional Finnish Käpykakku is typically coated with a layer of marzipan, which is dark brown color and conifer cone-shaped and spiky.