Marbled muffins with marzipan pig

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 200 g margarine
• 200 g sugar
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 3 eggs
• 500 g flour
• 2 packets of baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 pack of pudding powder, vanilla
• 5 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp mineral water
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 50 ml egg liqueur (to taste)
• 50 ml Baileys Irish Cream (to taste)
• 100 g chocolate, to taste (e.g. mocha)
• 200 g marzipan – raw mass (for the marzipan pigs)
• 200 g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• some food coloring, liquid red and yellow

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour

for New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras, Carnival, birthdays…

Chop the chocolate bar. Mix the margarine, sugar, and vanilla sugar well, then add the eggs. Combine the flour with the baking powder and baking soda and mix well, then stir in the vanilla pudding powder. Add the milk and water to form a smooth batter. Divide the batter into two portions. Mix one portion with eggnog, the other with cocoa powder and chopped chocolate. (You can also omit these ingredients or add a few drops of baking flavoring, for example.) Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper baking cups or paper. (For the muffins, I don’t use pre-made paper baking cups; instead, I cut squares out of wax paper. Firstly, it’s cheaper and secondly, I think they look better. Loose sheets of A4-sized wax paper are best; simply cut in half.) Pour the light muffin batter into the muffin tin and place the dark batter on top. I always fill the molds to the brim, as I like the muffins to be really tall. Bake in the preheated oven at around 180°C for 20-25 minutes (use a toothpick to test). Remove from the oven and from the mold, and let cool. In the meantime, make the marzipan pigs. Mix the marzipan mixture with a few drops of red food coloring and knead it into the pigs. For the eyes, mix some powdered sugar with water and arrange small balls for the eyes. To add the black for the eyes, I used a felt-tip pen made from food coloring. Mix the powdered sugar with water and a little lemon juice (set aside some white mixture for the marzipan pigs’ eyes). Mix with a few drops of yellow food coloring and spread it on the cooled muffins. Place the marzipan pigs on top and decorate with colored sugar pearls if desired.