Marzipan carrots

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 200 g marzipan paste
• 100 g powdered sugar (more if needed)
• Food coloring, green, red and yellow

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

Homemade decoration for carrot cake, carrot muffins, etc.

These carrots are a lovely alternative to the dry store-bought stuff, and above all, they’re not as carelessly made. First of all: I love marzipan, so I always make quite large carrots. If you want smaller carrots, use only half the amount of marzipan and powdered sugar. Or make them in advance; the carrots keep well as long as they’re stored in a dry place. Knead the marzipan mixture with the powdered sugar until you get a smooth dough; take off about 1/10 of it (or maybe a bit more) and mix it with green food colouring (preferably highly concentrated, liquid) for the green leaves. Knead the rest with yellow and red food colouring, using about twice as much yellow as red, until the mixture reaches the desired shade of orange. If the marzipan is too sticky due to the liquid colouring, knead in a little more powdered sugar. Shape both mixtures into logs; Roll out the green one into a thin, 30 cm long roll, and the orange one to a length of 60 cm (for small carrots, of course, only half as long). Divide both rolls into 12 equal pieces. For the leaves, shape the green ones into a cone, flatten them slightly, and score the wide side 2-3 times lengthwise, but not all the way to the point. Round off the orange marzipan pieces on one side and roll them into a point on the other. Press the blunt side onto the leaf and use a toothpick to make small horizontal grooves. Irregularities are expressly desired so that you can immediately see that the carrots are handmade.