Sunday 5 February 2012

Sour Cherry Amaretti

I’ve made a cookie with dried cranberries. I’ve made ricciarelli. Before this weekend, I’d never thought of combining the two ideas – sour dried fruit, soft almond biscuit – but the Ottolenghi book showed me differently. Sour Cherry Amaretti. The original separate biscuits were delicious, but when combined and altered slightly they become something even better.DSC_0011As you bite into these, you initially get the chewy outer edge of the cookie before the really soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture and intense almond flavour of the inside. Then you hit a chewy, tart sour cherry to stop the amaretti becoming too sickly and the two flavours work really well together.DSC_0014Making the amaretti uses a really similar technique to the ricciarelli and similar to macarons except you don’t have to worry about being really gentle as you fold the ground almonds into whisked stiff egg whites. There is also a twist in this recipe: you use your fingers to rub in lemon zest to the ground almonds and sugar mixture before you add it the to the egg whites. This really enhances the citrus flavour and means you can still taste it in the final product even with the other strong flavours competing, giving it a bit of freshness and zing. The result is extremely moreish and as they’re quite small it’s difficult to stop having just one more, then another, then another…
PS – hope you like the new blog design! Finally took the plunge and mixed things up after three and a half years of the same design. DSC_0015

11 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

A great idea! Your amaretti look very tempting. I'm sure they'd taste wonderful with an espresso.

Cheers,

Rosa

The Caked Crusader said...

Love the new look and love your biscuits - they look like little mouthfuls of happiness!

Jo said...

Those look so moreish! My hand would definitely be sneaking in the tin for second helpings. I have a real weakness for biscuits.

Definitely approve of the new layout too. It's good to have a change every so often.

La Table De Nana said...

Bonjour Lucy..You never cease to please me..Seeing your love and passion for baking is inspiring to us all..I have to find sour cherries..dry cherries.. 2 posts have caught my eye..s:)

La Table De Nana said...

PS It all looks great..it's hard to change isn't it?

Signed..Creature of habit~

cornercottage said...

Ooh they look great. I love dried sour cherries and can imagine them working really well against the sweet biscuit itself.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness these look great - I can just imagine how great they taste!
Mary x

Gloria Baker said...

Love these look amazing!!! Im following you!

Dewi said...

Very inspiring. Will definitely keep this in mind when cherry is in season here. Thanks Lucy!

Anonymous said...

Tasted these and they were delicious-broke my diet for seconds!
Lou

Karen (Back Road Journal) said...

I know that is an old post but I just wanted to let you know how good these sound and will be making some as part of my Christmas cookies.