Marzipankartoffeln

Marzipankartoffeln belong to Advent, and they belong strongest to the northern marzipan cities, Lübeck first, with Königsberg standing in the old memory. They sit in the Plätzchenteller, the Christmas cookie plate, even though no oven is involved. A child can roll them, but only if the paste is right.

The argument is old and simple. In the north, the almond does the work: good Marzipanrohmasse, almond paste, little sugar, a touch of rosewater or bitter almond, then cocoa. In the south, you'll find rum, kirsch, more spice, sometimes too much icing sugar. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. I keep them northern, because the whole joke of the sweet is that it looks like a potato and tastes of almonds, not perfume.

The one technique is drying the rolled marzipan before the cocoa. Give the balls ten to fifteen minutes in the air so the surface turns slightly tacky, not wet. Roll too soon and the cocoa clumps into mud; wait too long and it slides off like dust from a boot. Das braucht seine Zeit, even when the recipe has no oven.

Nicht aus dem Glas, and not from a waxy packet that tastes only of sugar. Use almond-rich marzipan, knead it warm in your hands, and roll the pieces unevenly. Potatoes are not billiard balls. Schön ist, was schmeckt.