Kitchen Scientist 101

[figmo]

I tried a cooking experiment. It's chilling in the refrigerator right now.

Sugar-Free Marzipan.

For those of you on Atkins, it's low-carb, too.

2 c blanched slivered almonds
1 c granulated Splenda
1 T vanilla extract
1 packet Knox gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water

Chop the almonds in your food processor till they start to get powdery but grainy.

Add the Splenda; continue chopping. Be careful to stop before you have sweetened almond butter.

While the almonds are chopping, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water.

Add the vanilla extract and gelatin to the almond/Splenda mixture.

Using a rubber spatula, scrape out the contents onto plastic wrap, then roll up and chill in the refrigerator.
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I think I may have let mine get a little too close to almond butter (it gets gooier when you add the gelatin and vanilla), but we'll see. I didn't want it to be too grainy, either.

P.S.--I just shipped off the final PDF of the book I've been working on like a madwoman.

Comments

[kayshapero]

Actually marzipan always struck me as grainy sweetened almond butter anyway. POWERFUL grainy sweetened almond butter - those marzipan fruits look tiny until you eat one at which point you suddenly realize they're actually huge. :-> I may try this, given that I can't eat the sugared version any more. Thanks!

[figmo.livejournal.com]

After tasting it I have two comments:

1. I think it needs something to make it drier, but I'm not sure what to use.
2. Next time I'm using almond extract instead of vanilla -- and not as much.

[poltr1]

Splenda is wonderful stuff! It doesn't have the aftertaste of saccharin or aspartame. A friend of mine from NYC would make regular "Splenda runs" into Canada to get some, until it was finally approved for sale in the US. The problem is, I've not found a restaurant that puts it out on the table; it's either "the pink stuff" or "the blue stuff". And most places don't ever serve Diet Rite.

BTW, when I'm cooking, should I do a 1:1 substitution from sugar to Splenda? Or use some other ratio?

[figmo.livejournal.com]

If using granular Splenda it's a 1:1 ratio.

If using packets, 1 packet = 2 tsp. of sugar.

I have found one restaurant that puts Splenda on the table. I had, alas, already used pink in my iced tea before I noticed some of the packets were yellow.