And, while we’re not on the topic, did you know that my mild allergy to pistachios stems from my poison ivy allergy? Poison ivy, pistachios, mango skins and lacquer (it’s a tree, the sap of which is used in furniture-finishing) are all from the same plant family. Subsequently, prolonged exposure by people allergic to one in the group, to any others in the family can lead to increased sensitivity to all members of the family. This is why many people can eat mangoes but cannot touch the skin (the oil that most commonly sets off the allergy is found in the skin of a mango). Handling mango skin is akin- biologically speaking- to handling poison ivy for many folks, myself included. And, the more regularly I eat pistachios, the more serious the mango skin reaction gets (I found that out the hard way when my throat started to close after I ate flesh scraped directly from mango skin) so I generally try to avoid the family as much as possible.

But I digress.

Here are the nougat ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons strong, black coffee
• 1 cup ground hazelnuts

Grinding Hazelnuts

On the [very-not-]off-chance you don’t know where to get hazelnuts already ground, it’s quite easy to do yourself. After the marzipan post, all I have to say on the process of grinding nuts into a powder has already been laid down; grind once to couscous texture, add powdered sugar, grind again and run through a sieve.

Step 1

Drop in the nut meal, sugar and cocoa powder and mix together.

Step 2

Once the dry ingredients are well mixed together, drop in the coffee and vanilla. Mix it until the nougat begins to combine.

Step 3

At this stage, I like to knead by hand until the nougat is smooth in both consistency and color.

Step 4

Once smooth, the nougat is finished. I patted it into a ball, wrapped up and popped into the freezer to await the next step in the journey to Mozart’s Balls.

Also, Mozartkugeln always make me think of a lovely afternoon I spent in Xi’an with an Austrian girlfriend. We had a lovely, long coffee and started discussing Mozartkugeln and she wondered by the name was never translated into English when sold in English-speaking markets. It took us both a moment to understand why as we translated “kugeln” into the English equivalent. It then dawned on us why “Mozart’s Balls” would not necessarily speak to its intended market.

But I digress.

The marzipan recipe is quite simple:

• 8 ounces blanched almonds
• 8 ounces powdered sugar (about 1 US cup)
• 1 egg white

It’s the finesse I find hard. You want to grind well enough to make things smooth but not so much as to make almond butter. Essentially, when it doubt, err on the side of less grinding because releasing the almond oil (a la almond butter) releases the bulk of the flavor before you’ve finished. The sieve will save you from not grinding enough.

Equipment:

• coffee grinder
• wooden spoon
• mixer
• 2 bowls
• sieve

Step 1:

When first grinding, I like to pulse to a couscous-like texture. I just use a coffee grinder but some people like to beat the almonds inside a canvas bag or trust in a larger food processor. I’m fairly accident prone so I like to limit both the violence and batch size risks in the kitchen, so I stick with a wee coffee grinder.

Step 2:

Next up, mix the almond meal with the sugar and grind it again. Definitely stick to pulsing at this stage. A constantly spinning blade tends to heat up and get coated in a layer of crystallized sugar. The sugar layer dulls the blades (temporarily) and is kind of a pain in the tuchus to remove.

Step 3:

Once it’s ground to a fine powder, I like to sift the powder to pull out any larger pieces and further grind them.

Step 4:

Then use a mixer strong enough for bread dough as marzipan is slightly stiffer than bread dough once combined. Slowly add the egg white to the grounds and mix or knead until you get a smooth, solid ball.

Step 5:

Eat. Decorate. Whatever. Congratulations! Your marzipan journey has finished.

Or, wrap up your ball and put it in the freezer like I’ll be doing to continue with Mozart’s Balls.