Comments on: Marzipan de Pili a la Marketman

By: Ela

Ela — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 03:30:42 +0000

Hmmm…pili nuts, this post brings back a lot of childhood memories back in the Philippines. I remember when I was in gradeschool, every summer my sister and I would spend our vacation in Quezon Province, my uncle used to have pili trees and he would get them in baskets. So delicious when they’re fresh! Those were the good ol’ days. Thanks for your post, I’ll be trying the marzipan soon.

By: paula

paula — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:48:43 +0000

hi MM i would like to ask where could I buy almond flour? I am planning to make french macarons. Thanks =)

By: Aban

Aban — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:09:41 +0000

Love Marzipans! Thanks for this recipe!

By: Joy

Joy — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:17:36 +0000

That looks great.

By: Betchay

Betchay — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:23:44 +0000

Thanks MM for the recipe.Simple and easy…..now, where to get my pili nuts?

By: corrine

corrine — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:05:12 +0000

I watched a feature about nuts and that’s when I heard about marcona almonds and it was a light bulb moment when I thought about substituting pili nuts for marcona almonds. I made pili marzipan but used it to make almond cake. It was very good indeed! Will try candies like yours next time. Though the Philippines is the biggest commercial producer of pili, it turn rancid fast hence, the quality can’t be consistent. I never liked pili because I always had the rancid ones but when I was given freshly picked ones, I realized what a gold mine Bicol has.

By: MP

MP — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:03:19 +0000

I wonder if someone thought of making a pilinut version of nutella – using pili instead of hazel nuts + choco…maybe a chocopil or pilicho?

Footloose, new word of the day: apogee. Had to consult google for that. I am beginning to hate my English Profs.

Bettq, my sosyal neighbor said something about pithiviers and I pretended to know what she was talking about. Next time, I’ll say: A friend of mine said they’re a pain in the… to make!

By: Ruth B

Ruth B — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:21:30 +0000

MM, your marzipan looks yummy but making them is so labor-intensive pala. No wonder marzipans are kind of pricey.

Have you tried J. G. Niederegger Marzipan from Lubeck, Germany? It is supposed to be one of the popular marzipan brands. We were fortunate to visit the place where they are made and it was interesting to find so many sweets, cakes and pastries with marzipan as the base ingredient. We got some of their marzipans and dutifully lugged them around during our vacation only to find them being sold at a duty free shop in Schipol airport right before our flight back to Manila!!
I actually still have 1 small tin of marzipan with bitter chocolate which I’d be happy to share. But if you ask me, I still prefer our local pili nut version from Bicol over these European almond types.

By: EbbaBlue

EbbaBlue — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:59:17 +0000

Oh my gosh.. this is how its done. I am sending this recipe right away to my folks in Quezon and i want them to try them. Para pag-uwi ko sa April alam na nilang gawin, hihihi, para kumain na lang ako. I am also going to reserve na the pilli harvest dun sa neighbor nila. Thanks again MM for the post.

By: ria_twig

ria_twig — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:17:03 +0000

I usually make my own almond flour for my macarons. To have really fine almond flour, the only thing that works for me is a kitchen tool that grates the nuts instead of grinding it. Then I just sift the grated nuts through a seive once or twice. I have made hazelnut flour and pistachio flour successfully by using this tool. For the finest nut flour that I can make, I usually leave the grated nuts in room temp overnight, uncovered, so that all the moisture in the nuts have dried out before I sift it. For a kilo of grated almonds, about 700g turns into fine almond flour. The rest of the almonds that are too big, I usually just use as part of my chicken nuggets coating =)

In Sweden this tool is called Mandelkvarn (almond grinder/mill, but it really doesnt grind the nut but instead grates it). I don’t know if this can be found in the Philippines or in the US. I’ll gladly send you one MM, if you want.

I have very fond memories of pili as well. I love anything made of Pili. My parents come from Camarines Norte and we would have pili nuts in all sorts of form whenever relatives come to visit us. Pili nut brittle and Tikoy with Pili are my favorites. Yum yum! I miss pili so much, sometimes I’d make my own version of the tikoy of my childhood (brown sweet tikoy) and substitute almonds for the pili…although it’s not as good as having real pili…..