Elegance made easy: Cherry Marzipan Pastries

It's one of those ingredients more easily bought than prepared: marzipan. Dare to give it a try? You don't need many ingredients for this recipe, but rather strong hands and a little perseverance. One bite of these gorgeous pastries, and you'll be convinced that they were worth every step. 

You will need (for 4 servings):

• 1 cup cherry juice
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 7 oz cherries
• puff pastry
• 3.5 oz ground almonds
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Here's how:

Heat cherry juice, cornstarch, and sugar in a saucepan and let simmer for five minutes. Add the cherries and stir well. 

Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into eight equal rectangles. Using a small bottle cap, make a row of three holes, one below the other, on four of the rectangles. 

Mix the almonds, powdered sugar, almond extract, and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Now for the part that requires a bit of stamina: knead the ingredients together until you have a cohesive mound of marzipan. 

Roll out the marzipan and cut it into four small sheets. Place one sheet on top of each of the puff pastry rectangles without holes. Add some of the cherry mixture (a few whole cherries included!) onto the marzipan, and cover with the puff pastry pieces with holes. 

Seal the edges together by pressing them with a fork. Now brush your pastries with egg and bake for 25 minutes at 350° F. 

Don't they look simply divine?

You can really let your imagination run wild with this recipe. Try whipping up these delicious pastries using other kinds of fruit. And if you want to play with appearances, use a small cookie cutter to create flower or star-shaped holes. Enjoy!