Nut marzipan muffins with pistachio topping

Ingredients for 16 servings:

• 250 ml whipped cream
• 2 bars of chocolate with pistachios
• 200 ml whole milk
• ½ point vanilla pudding powder, 20 g
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar
• 100 g marzipan paste
• 4 tbsp almonds, ground
• 150 g xylitol (sugar substitute)
• 4 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 75 g almonds, ground
• 175 ml oil
• 200 g spelt flour, plain
• 2 tsp cream of tartar baking powder
• ½ pack of vanilla pudding powder, 20 g
• 30 g cornstarch
• 150 ml whole milk

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 35 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes

For the topping, bring the whipped cream to a boil. Break the two chocolate bars into small pieces and place them in a bowl. Pour the boiled cream over the cream and let it stand for a moment, stirring with a spoon if necessary. Then, using a hand blender, mix until smooth and then refrigerate the mixture. For the filling, use about 50 ml of the whole milk to mix the pudding powder and vanilla sugar. Cut the marzipan into small pieces and bring to a boil with the remaining 150 ml of milk and the ground almonds. Add the mixed pudding powder and bring to a boil again until thick and creamy. Let cool at room temperature. For the dough, beat the birch sugar with the eggs and salt for at least 5 minutes until fluffy. While continuing to stir slowly, add the ground almonds. Continue to mix the remaining dry ingredients and then alternately add the oil, dry ingredients and whole milk to the egg and sugar mixture. Then fill the batter into muffin tins and bake for about 35 minutes on the middle rack at 170°C (top and bottom heat). Don’t forget to do the skewer test; let cool briefly. I used a pastry press to fill the muffins. Carefully pipe the marzipan filling into the still-warm, but no longer hot, muffins and then let cool completely. Whisk the pistachio-chocolate topping in a warm water bath until smooth and fill a piping bag. Decorate the completely cooled muffins with this mixture. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios or almonds, if desired. Important: Refrigerate the finished muffins once more so that the topping sets again.