How to Make Almond Paste

Like so many ingredients, you can buy almond paste in most grocery stores. But it is so easy and quick to make it yourself, with the benefit that you can decide whether to make coarse or smooth almond paste.

Almond paste is a thick spread or better said a paste, made from ground blanched almonds or almond flour, powdered sugar, and egg whites, with or without additional almond extract. This sweet sticky paste appears in a variety of baked goods, like apple cake or whether folded into pastries and as almond cream; breakfast fare like bear claws, almond croissants, and waffles; or enjoyed on its own as marzipan candy.

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.

• Blanched almonds or almond flour
• Powdered sugar
• Egg white
• Almond extract

How to Make Almond Paste

Depending on your preference, you can make almond paste from the very beginning – raw almonds. You first have to peel or blanch those almonds. See here how to do that.

• Step 1 – Grind the peeled almonds in a food processor until you have almond flour. You can decide at this point whether you like to leave pieces of almond in the paste or whether you like to go as fine as store-bought almond flour.
• Step 2 – Combine the almond flour and powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the egg white and blend until the mixture comes together and looks like a shiny dough that holds together.
• Step 3 – Add almond extract, if you like a more pronounces almond flavor and pulse to blend.

As you can see in the images about, the almond paste on the left still has tiny visible pieces of almond, and the left image is smooth. The left is made from almonds that are somewhat coarsely ground and the right image is made from almond flour.

How to Store Almond Paste

Wrapped air tight in plastic wrap and stored in a Ziploc bag. In the refrigerator, almond paste can be kept for up to 3 months, in the freezer about 6 months. Before you use the almond paste, make sure to bring it to room temperature.

How to Use Almond Paste

• In cookies
• In pastries, like bear claw
• In fruit desserts, like Small Apple Tarts with Lemon Almond Paste
• In croissants
• In cinnamon rolls
• As is, as a ‘candy’

What is difference with Marzipan or Frangipane

• Marzipan – contains more sugar than almonds. The ratio sugar : almond in almond paste is 1:1, in marzipan there is more sugar than almonds, but as far as I know there is no fixed ratio. Marzipan is in Europe often sold as a confection in all shapes and colors.
• Frangipane – is more of a cream or even a thick custard. Frangipoane contains butter, sugar, almond flour, egg, flour. Because of the raw egg in this cream, frangipane is always used in baking goods, like fruit tarts, galettes, and puff pastries.