Hazelnut Marzipan Brownies

Back when I was a TV producer on the talk show, Attitudes, I got sent tons of books a week. I honestly don't know when I received this brownie book from a publicist, I remember I pitched it as a segment but I still don't remember if it ever made it to air.  I do know that of the 200 cookbooks I had, this one made the cut to the handful that moved to Germany with me. Well, the proof did. I never received the finished copy.

The 55 Best Brownies in the World is a collection of award winning brownie recipes from all over America.  Probably many of the contributors have blogs now. You can buy the book now for 1 US cent on Amazon.

Unfortunately, a google search did not reveal the whereabouts of the creator of this recipe, nor any further info on The Great American Brownie Bake from where these award winning 55 brownie recipes came from.  Regardless. To Julia Richardson - thanks for the wonderful brownie inspiration.

Marzipan Brownies

(Adapted from the Recipe by Julia Richardson, Denver, Colorado from The 55 Best Brownies in the World By Honey & Larry Zisman, St. Martin's Press August 1991)

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces unsweetened Chocolate
• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon Amaretto
• 7 ounces of hazelnut marzipan (recipe follows)

Directions:

• Grease an 8 inch square pan and preheat oven to 350
• Melt chocolate and butter together in a microwave or saucepan.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Add sugar to chocolate and add eggs one at a time.
• Add Amaretto
• Fold in the flour mixture.
• Spread half the batter in the pan
• Set hazelnut marzipan square over the batter and spread the rest of the batter on top.

• Bake for approximately 20 minutes.
• Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

For the Hazelnut Marzipan:


Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 Cup Ground hazel nuts
• 1 Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla

Directions:

• Mix together the Hazelnuts and the sugar, add the powdered sugar and stir until everything is blended together evenly.
• Add wet ingredients and mix together.
• When rolling, sprinkle surface with powdered sugar instead of flour.

When marzipan is rolled out place pan on top and cut out the form of the pan so you have a square piece to layer in the brownie batter.