It's that time of the year again. Most stores are getting out their Christmas stuff by now, but in Belgium & Holland there's another holiday squished in between. Sinterklaas! It's the day of truth for children, because only the ones who have been good all year will be receiving gifts and sweets. Tomorrow, Sinterklaas will be arriving in Antwerp with tons of marzipan, kruidnoten and mandarins. So what is more appropriate to celebrate his arrival than baking with it?



I present: marzipan cookies! I don't always have time to spend my entire day in the kitchen, kneading dough, waiting for it to rise and baking cookies. Sometimes, I want something quick and delicious! I have the easiest, fool-proof recipe that I love to whip up from time to time if I want a quick sugar fix and when I was eating breakfast last weekend (with marzipan, duh), a light bulb appeared in my head. My easy cookies combined with marzipan? That must be love!

If you are a true marzipan lover - I truly hope you are, how can you not like marzipan? -, you will agree with me that one should never ever buy marzipan if there is less than 50% almonds inside. You really don't need any more sugar than that, believe me. The perfect balance of sugar and almonds makes it a dream in your mouth. And if you don't think so, I suggest you try again.

These cookies are anything but difficult. The most difficult part? The marzipan filling, which literally is cutting pieces off a block and shaping them into rounds. Sounds like something you can do, huh? This last part takes some time, but if you think about the fact that making the dough takes 5 minutes and baking takes 15, an extra 10 minutes for marzipan is worth it. Cookies are awesome, but cookies with filling? For only 10 minutes extra? I thought so too. Let me know if you make these!

Ingredients
for about 20 cookies

• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 1 egg, whisked
• 60 grams butter
• 50 grams self-raising flour
• marzipan, to your liking