Almond paste

Almond paste is a confectionery and baking ingredient made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar in equal quantities. Small amounts of cooking oil, egg, heavy cream or corn syrup may be added as a binder. It resembles marzipan but has a coarser texture. Pastry cooks use it as a filling in many cultures, including the American bear claw, the Swedish semla, the Danish kringle and the Dutch gevulde koek. It also appears in chocolates, in the Italian frutta martorana and in the French calisson candy of Aix-en-Provence. A cheaper commercial product called persipan adds ground apricot or peach pits to cut the cost. Being made from almonds, it carries the tree nut allergen.