Scandinavian marzipan treats (without white sugar)

Wow – mixing healthy nuts and dates and you have this delicious sweet treat – amazing! We do have a treat in Scandinavia that everyone knows and it’s actually called “Vaccum cleaner” (Dammsugare – Swedish) or “Tree logs” (Træstammer – Danish). I don’t know who came up with those very practical (and not so tempting) names. The original treat is filled with a leftover sponge cake. I didn’t have any (ate all) and got inspired of a healthy version of this traditional Scandinavian treat. It’s unbelievable how delicious it is and that it’s no unhealthy white sugar or butter. Only nuts and dates and some spices. The marzipan I made myself with almonds and dates.

The original has a taste of rom, but I changed that as well and gave my treats a fresh hint of orange. Try this out and let me know what you think.

Ingredients (10-15 pieces):

Marzipan

• 1 cup whole almonds
• 3 dates
• 1 tbsp water

Filling

• 1 oz nuts (I used pistachio)
• 4.5 oz dates (with pits)
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp fresh juice from an orange

Others

• 1 tablet dark chocolate (70%)

Marzipan

Start with peeling the whole almonds. That is easy done by heating water until boiling point. Remove from heat. Add the almonds into the sauce pan and let the almonds soak in the hot water for approximately 5 minutes. Remove the peel by squeezing the almond between two fingers. The peel will then easily come off. Place the peeled almonds in a food processor and run on high speed until the almonds become almond flour. Add the pitted dates and run the food processor on high speed again until the marzipan looks like a sticky dough. If needed (still a bit dry), add water. Keep the marzipan in the refrigerator until done with the rest.

Filling

Add the nuts, pitted dates, cocoa powder and juice from an orange into a food processor bowl. Blend everything until you have a sticky cocoa dough. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Take out the marzipan from the refrigerator. Take two parchment papers and place the marzipan in-between. Use a rolling pin and roll out the marzipan to rectangular with a thickness of about 0.1”. Remove the top parchment paper.

Take out the filling from the refrigerator and roll that to a long roll with a diameter of about 0.75”. Place the filling on the marzipan rectangle. Roll the marzipan around the filling. Cut the long roll in 10-15 pieces.

Take half of the chocolate tablet and cut in pieces. Add into a heatproof plate that is place on top of a sauce pan with a bit of water. Melt the chocolate on this water bath. Make sure not to get any water into the chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, add the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir gently until everything is melted.

Dip the treats both sides into the melted chocolate. Place them on a parchment paper and keep in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to cool down.