If you love the taste of almonds you will love these Chewy Almond Marzipan Bars!
The combination of marzipan, almond flour, slivered almonds and a touch of almond extract included in this recipe ensure the flavour of almonds really shines through in these delicious and tender marzipan bars.
Marzipan is primarily made of finely ground almonds and sugar. It’s often used to make fruit shaped candy, and decorations for cake. I’ve been wanting to use marzipan in a cookie recipe and this seemed like the perfect recipe for it. I adapted this recipe for Almond Bars from the blog Bare Feet in the Kitchen to include marzipan as well as almond flour. The bars came out so soft and chewy with an incredible almond flavour. They were so delicious and addictive, I had to share them with friends and family so I wouldn’t eat them all myself.
These cookies would also be delicious with a bit of lemon zest. If you want to try it that way I would recommend adding 1/2 tsp. of grated lemon zest to the batter. These Chewy Almond Marzipan Bars would make a delicious dessert for Easter. Enjoy!
Chewy Almond Marzipan Bars
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup marzipan
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tbsp. cream or milk
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds toasted
- 2 tbsp. icing sugar optional
Instructions
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Place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat oven to 325ºF.
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Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
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In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt, stir and set aside.
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In the bowl of your mixer, beat on medium speed the butter and the sugar, until the mixture is creamy.
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Add the marzipan and beat until the marzipan has been incorporated into the butter and sugar mixture and no lumps remain.
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Add the egg and the almond extract and then beat until the batter is light and fluffy.
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Beating on low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated to the batter.
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Evenly press the dough into the bottom of the lined pan.
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Using a pastry brush, brush the cream (or milk) on top of the dough.
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Sprinkle the dough with the toasted slivered almonds and lightly press them into the top.
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Bake for 18 min, or until just barely beginning to colour around the edges. The top should be dry to the touch. Over-baking these will yield crunchy cookies.
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Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then using the overhang of the parchment paper, lift them out of the pan and put them on a wire rack to cool.
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Once cool, cut with a sharp knife into 18 pieces or more.
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If desired, dust them with a bit of powdered sugar.
Recipe Notes
*Toast the slivered almonds in a 350ºF oven for about 10 minutes or until they begin to colour. Make sure to stir them after the initial 5 min. Put them back in the oven making sure to keep a watch on them. Once golden, remove from the oven and let them cool.
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Oh gosh, you’ve managed to incorporate almonds 4 ways into these bars!! Sounds delicious! 🙂
Thanks, they were delicious!
They look beautiful and elegant! Marzipan and almond – who can resist against such
combo? 🙂 Were they very sweet? because marzipan usually is too sweet.
Happy FF! xoxo
Mila
Hi, thank you. No, they weren’t too sweet because I only used 1/3 of a cup of marzipan and I reduced the sugar in the original recipe by a third, so 2/3 cup of sugar.
I didn’t find them overly sweet but they also didn’t need any powdered sugar to make them sweeter, that was more for the photos!
How do you know I love almonds on cookies? 😀 These are so beautiful and sound really good. Thank you for bringing these at the party. Happy FF. xx
Well, because you have such great taste of course!!! Happy FF to you
They look incredible. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, my pleasure 🙂
These look and sound wonderful! So pretty with the powdered sugar on top, too!
Thanks Nancy!
These bars were delicious! Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee…
Thanks Myrna! If only I had some left to have with my coffee this morning 🙂
Sweet perfection! These look delicious. 🙂
Thank you Nancy 🙂
I love almonds and marzipan, and these bars look amazing and tasty. 🙂
If you feel like making marzipan yourself, you’re welcome to check out my post about homemade marzipan: https://ronitpenso.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/homemade-marzipan/
Thank you! Wow, I will definetely take a look at your recipe and next time I’ll make my own marzipan 🙂
Lots of almonds!!! Such a wonderful recipe, love the idea of almond bars!
Yes lots of almond flavour make these bars extra delicious! Thanks!