March 28th
2005
Easter family get-togethers are great. For one, it's always good to see your family, but also Easter bunnies bring a lot of chocolate. We'll skip the dressing up part this time, however, we decided to make a box of chocolates. Chocolate marzipan truffles or our version of Mozartkugeln to be exact. I've read the expression Mozart-Balls in other places, but found it to give a wrong impression. The process of making them is rather unspectacular, but takes some time.
The core is made of the nougat. Form little balls, about the size of a 5 pence coin, total amount should be round 36 pieces.
Mix the marzipan, icing sugar, the kirsch shot and the crushed pistachios (I used a mortar, the final size of the nuts is up to you) , save some nuts for decoration. I guess, one can use any kind of fruit schnapps, at least I would think so. Form a long roll of dough and cut it in 36 pieces. Coat each nougat ball with a layer of the marzipan mix and form nice marbles. Set aside.
Melt the milk chocolate coating over a bain marie and cover each ball with a thin layer of chocolate. Chocolate dipping forks are very helpful here. We weren't sure on the proper translation of this devilish looking tool, then stumbled over this thread and were reassured :)
To allow them to dry, I first cover a plate with plasic wrap, after some really annoying experiences trying without. I also used a special grid in the past, which gave the most devastating results...never again. Let them cool in the fridge for half an hour. Be sure to have a secret hiding place...
Couldn't resist to capture first impressions of spring in Munich. So many crocuses...
Mozartkugeln
Recipe source: loosely based on Mozartkugeln
Required time: takes about 45 minutes (without chilling)
.
Ingredients:
200g nougat
200g marzipan
80g icing sugar
a shot kirsch/kirschwasser (fruit schnapps)
150g dark or milk chocolate coating
30g pistachios
Mm, that looks really good! I know a lot of friends who make these for christmas and easter, but I haven't tried it myself yet. I'm a little anxious over getting the marzipan to coat the nougat properly, I think. Also, I absolutely suck at dipping stuff in chocolate - maybe chocolate forks *would* help, but it still looks like the object can easily fall off and be lost forever in a big pool of chocolate. (Maybe it's just my overactive imagination.) :)
Your blog is wonderful!
I showed this post to a friend and she says what you have is much better than Mozartkugeln. The chocolates look so elegant and so does your blog.
Happy Easter! Gutes Glück und haben Spaß blogging!
Those look terrific!
Munich in the springtime must be beautiful - I've only seen it in the winter...snow covered!
Liebe Petra,
wusstest Du, dass Dein Blog einer der ersten war, die ich regelmäßig (noch passiv) mitgelesen habe ;)
Wenn Du die Mozartkugeln mal ausprobieren solltest, bin ich natürlich gespannt, was Deine Männer dazu sagen...
Anne, Alisa and Karen,
thanks for stopping by, hope you had a wonderful Easter time!
Su-Lin,
Munich is really beautiful during spring time. Since you haven't seen it yet, probably a good excuse to visit again sometime ;) By the way, this year we had way too much snow...for my taste.
Wahnsinnsaufnahmen - Neid. Verrätst du was über die verwendete Kamera? Rezept ist natürlich auch wunderbar :-) Überhaupt gefällt mir dein Blog sehr gut. Bin erst auf Empfehlung von Petra drauf gestoßen. Werde ich gleich mal in die Liste aufnehmen.
LG
Kaba
Sehr sehr schön. Ich bin auch wie Kaba erst drauf gestoßen auf Empfehlung von Petra.
Back to English now.. I feel much more comfortable writing in English. I guess habits die hard :) You´ve definitely done a great job, Nicky. Am speechless from the beautiful pictures you´ve done. Not to mention I´m also quite jealous, knowing I won´t be able to produce them myself :)
In case you´re interested, I have a cooking/baking forum for both asian and western cuisines. Will be honoured if you´ll drop by and join in the fun :)
Your site is FANTASTIC! I love the design and photos and your recipes! they all sound so goooood! =) keep it up!
wow, what a beatutiful, beautiful site. i am consumed with envy! gorgeous food and amazing photography.
Hallo Kaba,
unsere verwendete Kamera ist eine Fuji FinePix 610 mit 6 Megapixeln. Ursprünglich nur zu Urlaubszwecken angeschafft, verblüfft sie uns immerwieder mit guten Resultaten ;)
Melli, daffy, and kitchenette (and Kaba),
appreciate your positive feedback very much! Btw, I work in advertising (creative dept), so designing is my daily bread - but it's heck of a lot more fun, doin' it for my own purposes ;)
Holy cow. That looks great. You're off to a very auspicious start with this site and I wish you the best of luck!
hi nicky, just discovered your blog through your comment on mine... and absolutely LOVE it!!! It's like my twin writing somewhere - I've also got my Kaiserschmarrn recipe, you know Grammeln and seem to have a similar culinary background, I've adored pasteis de nata in Lisbon (btw is this the A Brasileira in the picture?)... and I just can't wait to read more! good luck with your blog, I'll definitely stop by regularly! (any interest in participating in EoMEoTE#5 - I am hosting this month!)
Nicky
I can't tell you how crazy I am about marzipan. (similar to the Dolfin earl grey). I am on a healthy eating to lose weight regime right now, but it's nice just to look at your pictures and day dream!
Grüss gott nicky,
I´m still very much in love with your pictures. That being said, of course ur recipes are very interesting too. *sigh* so how did u end up in Germany?
Wow, your recipes and pictures are awesome ! another blog on my favorites, keep up the good work !
Hey guys. We just got back from our post-Easter trying-to-beat-the-crowd travel.
barret - Thank you. since Chicago is on our yet to visit list, we might have to get back to you for some recommendations... :)
johanna - Thanks for inviting us to EoMEoTE#5. This month (March) we'll have to take a pass, but next time we in, for sure. Just had too many Easter eggs...Talking about Kaiserschmarrn, I most definitely will try your recipe, it sounds very intriguing.
Sam - We found a great place in Munich for all sorts of chocolate excesses. Needless to say we stock up on some more Dolfin. Pacing ourselves is the hard bit :) Hope you have completely recovered (Nicky had a similar experience, just after our trip to London last November).
Mellie - Nicky and I are actually German. I lived abroad (US) for 4+ years, Nicky came to visit every so often. Meanwhile we're quite settled in Munich, not to say that one day we'll be off again...
( PS: I'm the other half of d:d :)
Hi Nicky
The Mozartkugeln look very good, thanks.
please let me know which kind of nougat did you use?
We live here, in Israel, reading your 'schönste Food Blog'
(i'm reading in german too),but we have some other sorts of nougat.
Was it like this?
http://www.oekoinform.de/produktdetail/all/2603/produktdetail.jsp
or this?
http://www.oekoinform.de/produktdetail/all/1102/produktdetail.jsp
thank you !
nita
Hi Nicky and Oliver - They look like a family... so sweet!
Hi Nita,
I had a look at your links. I definitely used the first sort of nougat, almost shaped like a block. Just cut it in about 36 smaller pieces and start getting your hands messy. The warmer your hands get the more nougat sticks to them while trying to form little balls...
Hi Nicky,
I just stumbled across your site and saw the recipe for Mozartkugeln. These are my mother's favorite and they are hard to find in the US. I can't wait to try my hand at them and hopefully impress my mother while I'm at it. I love your blog!
[...] however, I did not read Nicky’s post “Happy Easter” over at Delicious Days. She warns of getting disastrous results when drying her chocolates [...]
Wieder ein traumhaft schöner Eintrag, gratuliere! Die grafische Gestaltung deines Blogs ist einfach umwerfend.
Meine Männer sind große Marzipan-Liebhaber, ob ich mich auch mal daran wage?
Noch frohe Rest-Ostern aus dem Bayerischen Wald :-)