Battenbahn buns with homemade marzipan

Ingredients:

Dough

• 550 g of flour
• 90 g of ground almonds
• 70 g of ultrafine sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 180 ml of 3% fat milk, heated to 43°C
• 16 g of fast-acting dry yeast
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 125 ml vegetable oil
• 1.5 tsp almond extract
• 75 g chopped dried apricots
• 45 g of raisins
• Pink and yellow food coloring paste

Hot glaze

• 100 gr. granulated sugar
• 45 ml of water
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Decorating

• 250g homemade marzipan (see recipe below), pink and yellow food coloring paste

Marzipan (yield: 450 g)

• 200 g of ground almonds
• 200 gr. granulated sugar
• 60 ml of honey
• 30 ml of water
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:

1. Dough. Measure out all ingredients except the raisins and dried apricots and place them in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or in a large bowl. Knead the dough on low speed until all ingredients are combined, then increase the speed and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes (the dough will be soft and should stick to the bottom of the bowl). If kneading by hand, stir the ingredients with a wooden spoon, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth. Finally, fold in the raisins and dried apricots.
2. Divide the dough into three equal portions. Using the tip of a toothpick, add pink food coloring (of your desired shade) to one portion of the dough and fold it in. Add yellow food coloring to another portion of the dough in the same manner, and leave the third portion as is. Place each portion of dough in a separate bowl, cover the bowls with plastic wrap, and let rise for 75-90 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.
3. Place the pieces of dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll each into a rope about 45 cm long. Twist the three colors together, then cut this long rope into 12 equal pieces (or weigh and cut into twelve 100 g pieces). Roll each piece of dough with the palm of your hand on the surface of the counter to form a ball. This will prevent the colors from blending. Place the round buns in a greased 23 x 33 cm baking pan, leaving space between them. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the buns rise for 45 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the plastic wrap from the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top. While the buns are still warm, prepare the glaze.
5. Glaze. Bring the sugar, water, and almond extract to a boil in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Brush the still-warm buns with the resulting syrup, using it all. Cool the buns completely in the pan.
6. Decoration. Divide the marzipan in two and tint one piece pink and the other yellow in the desired shade (it can be light or bright, as desired). Roll out both pieces of marzipan to a thickness of 4 mm (use powdered sugar while rolling to prevent the marzipan from sticking). Cut strips that will cross over each bun (one pink and one yellow) – the marzipan will stick to the icing. Cut out squares approximately 1.5 cm on a side and arrange four squares (two pink, two yellow) in the center of the cross on the bun in a checkerboard pattern.
   
   Ideally, the buns are best eaten the day they are baked, but they can be stored tightly wrapped for up to 24 hours.