This Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart starts with a chocolate brownie tart crust that is filled with homemade pistachio marzipan. It makes a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day dessert when topped with pistachio ice cream and warm hot fudge sauce!

Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart | From SugarHero.com

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! To celebrate, we had this festive dessert!

Okay, so it doesn’t look very festive from the outside. Actually, it looks downright plain. Homely. FRUMPY. There, I said it. But it has a surprise inside…

A bright green layer of homemade pistachio marzipan!

…Wait, come back.

Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart | From SugarHero.com

What scared you? Was it the green color, or the word “marzipan”? Because I promise, this has no relation to the poisonously powerful almond flavor and uber-sweetness of some aggressive marzipans. No, this is just a simple nut paste made from ground pistachios, powdered sugar, and a little egg. Really. It’s amazingly tasty, like eating fresh pistachios with a spoon. Deep breaths. Okay.

So paired with this marzi pistachio stuff is a chocolate dough that’s half brownie, half chocolate tart dough. It’s weird, and I was sure I was doing it wrong the whole time I was making it. But it turned out to be perfect–soft enough to meld with the pistachio stuff, but firm enough to hold its shape when removed from the tart pan.

Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart | From SugarHero.com

To finish off our green treat, I made my favorite pistachio ice cream and a simple chocolate sauce. Although the tart is moist, it needs something–ice cream, or whipped cream, or maybe creme anglaise–to perk it up. Many, many thanks to Mary Mary Culinary for the tart recipe & inspiration!

Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart | From SugarHero.com
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A slice of Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart on a white plate covered with Pistachio Ice Cream and Hot Fudge.

Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart

5 from 1 vote
This Pistachio Marzipan Brownie Tart starts with a chocolate brownie tart crust that is filled with homemade pistachio marzipan. It makes a fantastic St. Patrick's Day dessert when topped with pistachio ice cream and warm hot fudge sauce!
Prep30 minutes
Cook35 minutes
Total1 hour 5 minutes
Yields12

Ingredients

For the Brownie Portion:

For the Pistachio Filling:

  • 10 oz pistachios, shelled
  • 7 oz powdered sugar
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 large egg, well beaten, divided use

For Decoration:

  • Pistachio ice cream, optional
  • Fudge sauce, warm, optional
  • Whipped cream, optional
  • Pistachios, shelled and chopped, optional

Instructions 

Crust:

  • Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs.
  • Add the beaten egg and run the food processor until the dough comes together.
  • Divide the dough into ⅓ and ⅔ portions. Shape in discs, wrap separately in plastic and refrigerate. Chill for one hour. It can be made the day before, but will need to warm up before rolling to prevent it from breaking up.

Filling:

  • First blanch the pistachios by bringing a large pot of water to a boil and adding the shelled pistachios. Boil for 30-60 seconds. Test doneness by placing 1 pistachio under cold running water and seeing if the reddish skin comes off easily. Once it does, drain and rinse all the pistachios with cold water.
  • One by one, squeeze the pistachios to remove their skin. Doing this will keep the marzipan bright green. Once they are all skinned, place them on a towel-lined baking tray and allow to dry for at least 3 hours. Do not dry in the oven, as the color may fade.
  • Combine pistachios and sugar in a food processor and grind as finely as desired. Add egg whites and process until well blended. (If you didn't blanch the pistachios and the marzipan is a little brown, you can add a drop or two of green food coloring.) If you are making the marzipan in advance, scrape into a container and refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months. If you plan to use the marzipan the same day you make the tart no refrigeration is necessary.

Put it together:

  • Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9" tart pan or cake pan with removeable sides.
  • Mix the pistachio marzipan with approximately ½-¾ of a beaten egg to make a fairly soft, spreadable filling. Set aside.
  • Roll out the larger portion of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap until it is about 1" larger than your pan on all sides (10 inch diameter). Make sure there are no creases in the plastic wrap. Use this piece of dough to line the pan, pressing it to the sides of the pan so it doesn't fall inward.
  • Spread the pistachio marzipan evenly over the dough and fold in the dough edges so they rest on it.
  • Reuse the plastic wrap to roll the smaller piece of dough into an 8½" circle. It should be slightly smaller than the cake pan. Trim it so the edges are neat. Moisten the edges of the dough in the pan and lay the smaller circle on top. Press the edges gently together to seal. Brush with the leftover beaten egg and prick with a fork in several places.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool at room temperature until the pan is cool enough to touch. Approximately 30 min. Leave to cool in the pan, then transfer carefully to a serving plate. If you can stand it, wrap this and let it sit for a day or two before serving for best flavor.

Measuring Tips

Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.

Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?

Nutrition

Serving: 16g | Calories: 464kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 75mg | Potassium: 364mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 492IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Snap a pic and hashtag it #SugarHero. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @elabau.
A scoop of Pistachio Ice Cream with hot fudge and chopped pistachios.

Pistachio Ice Cream

5 from 1 vote
This creamy Pistachio Ice Cream makes a delicious topping or can be eaten on it's own!
Prep30 minutes
Cook2 hours
0 minutes
Total2 hours 30 minutes
Yields3 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted pistachios, shelled
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups milk, do not use low-fat or nonfat
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3/4 cup unsalted pistachios, shelled, toasted, coarsely chopped

Instructions 

  • Finely grind 1 cup pistachios and 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Bring milk and ground pistachio mixture to boil in heavy large saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in almond extract.
  • Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in hot milk mixture. Return custard to saucepan. Cook over low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes (do not boil). Strain into large bowl. Chill until cold, about 2 hours.
  • Stir 1 cup whipping cream and chopped pistachios into custard. Process mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Measuring Tips

Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.

Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?

Nutrition

Calories: 612kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 377mg | Sodium: 111mg | Potassium: 322mg | Sugar: 58g | Vitamin A: 1821IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 279mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Snap a pic and hashtag it #SugarHero. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @elabau.
Four photo collage with rainbow and green desserts for St. Patrick's Day, with text overlay.

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Meet Elizabeth!

Hi, I’m Elizabeth — a trained pastry chef, cookbook author, video instructor, and your new Baking BFF! I’m going to teach you everything you need to know to be a sugar hero. ❤️

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8 Comments

  1. I've had pistachio marzipan that came in a can, same ingredients (for the most part), and I loved it! I ate it right out of the can after using the little bit I needed for what I was making. This looks great!

  2. Love the colour. I tried to make pistachio marziapn once, tasted awesome but didn't look so great. Going to give this version a try 🙂

  3. That looks great, I love the color combination if brown and green.
    It's like the Austrian "Mozart Torte"!
    Unfortunately, I don't really like Marzipan 🙂

  4. I didn't realize you had made this till I saw the link tonight! It looks good, and I'll have to check that weight measurement–I replaced some of the flour with the cocoa, but didn't adjust the weight.
    🙂
    mmm, pistachio ice cream!

  5. I am for certain making this recipe. I have the chocolate dough and pistachio marzipan ready to go. However, I was also infatuated with your goat cheese brownies and thought of including a goat cheese + mascarpone cheesecake-style layer above the marzipan. In the off chance that you read this, do you see any reason why I couldn’t still cover this with the remaining dough and bake, albeit for a longer amount of time?