How to Make Marizpan Piggies for Good Luck

I created an elaborate New Year's Eve experience for my kids, and they loved it. I had planned to do one fun thing every hour, and at midnight (which was really 9pm), we'd do some more special things.

We didn't get through the last third of the fun things because I didn't want to speed them through the fun things. I wanted them to relax, have fun, and savor the things.

One of the things I wanted to do (that we didn't get to) was to make marzipan pigs, as they are a symbol of good luck in Germany. (Read all about the German tradition of making marzipan pigs at Red Ted Art.)

A few weeks later, I pulled out the marzipan, and we had a grand time making piggies one afternoon.

How to Make Marzipan Piggies

Materials

• Marzipan - I looked all over and couldn't find marzipan anywhere. This is a little pricey, but I ordered it anyway. It was amazing. It stayed nice and pliable and fresh for weeks. I might have lasted longer, but it tasted so good I ate the rest of it one afternoon.
• Gel paste food color - You can get this on Amazon, but it's cheaper and easier to get from your local craft store or even Walmart's craft section. I was going to use the green to make marzipan four leaf clovers for St. Patrick's Day, but then I ate all the marzipan. We'll have to buy more to use the green.

Instructions

1. First, slice off a block of marzipan. Dab some food color on it with a toothpick or butter knife. Be careful! A little goes a long way.

I would have rathered our marzipan was a little less hot pink and little more piglet pink. I used too much food color.

Use plastic wrap or aluminum foil to smash and smoosh the marzipan over and over and over until the color is distributed throughout. At first, it will seem like the color is never going to spread through the marzipan, but just keep folding and mashing and kneading it. It will eventually all be the same color.

2. Shape your piggies. You need a big ball for the body, a little body for the head, little cylinders for the legs, a smooshed cylinder for the nose, and little triangles for the ears. The tail is a teeny log wrapped over itself.

Each of us made piggies. Here is Joe working, and his resulting rhinoceros piggy:

Allie decided to make worms, and she was very proud of her worms.

Grace made a Momma piggy and a baby piggy. (Are you surprised?)

If there's anything I can do, it is make round things. When I was little, my mom always teased me about my round bears. They were all circles - circle heads, paws, ears - all circles.

Well. Circles worked nicely for my little piggy. I was quite pleased with him.

That is, until Allie came along and smashed his face. I was so angry and sad that I swatted her bottom for the first time in her entire life.

I couldn't believe she willfully destroyed the thing I had worked so hard to make, but that's a story for another blog post.

If you make some marzipan piggies, be sure to share them on my Facebook page! I want to see them!