Soft amaretti biscuit with lemon and cherry, inspired by the classic cocktail ingredients – an edible Amaretto Sour

I’m not a huge drinker but you could wire me up to an IV of Amaretto Sour and I’d happily lay there and take it until I turned into one giant cocktail tumbler full of crushed ice with a cherry on top. An Amaretto Sour (or a Disaronno Sour) is my ultimate cocktail go-to, so while I’m dedicating some TLC to my baking skillset, I thought I’d have a go at creating an edible version of the classic drink.

Stealing all the same flavours of the Amaretto Sour cocktail – egg white, sweet almond, zingy lemon and of course, Maraschino cherry – these simple amaretti biscuits are sweet, chewy and golden on the outside but soft and nutty on the inside. I promise you’re going to love them…

 

 

(Makes 8 medium biscuits or 12 small biscuits) 

• The whites from 2 large eggs (no yolk!)
• 165g ground almonds
• 165g fine caster sugar (and about 60g extra for rolling)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp Disaronno Amaretto (or similar almond liqueur)
• The juice of 1.5 large lemons
• 100g icing sugar
• Jar of cocktail cherries (Maraschino cherries)

 

 

 

1. Preheat your oven to 170° (fan).
2. Separate your egg yolks from the white and discard the yolks (or save for another recipe).
3. Whisk (electric or by hand) the egg whites into stiff, glossy peaks.
4. Fold in 165g caster sugar, 165g ground almonds and vanilla extract.
5. Gently fold in your Amaretto and the juice of one whole lemon (make sure no pips get in)
6. Combine until you have a very sticky paste which can hold its form.
7. Sprinkle the remaining caster sugar on one plate and about half the icing sugar on another plate.
8. Take a dollop of the biscuit batter, roll into a ball in your hands, roll around in the caster sugar, then roll around in the icing sugar.
9. Place on a lined baking tray and press down very slightly in the centre with your thumb – cracks might appear in the batter ball but that’s okay.
10. Repeat until the biscuit batter is all used up.
11. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of your biscuits) – or until they start to go golden.
12. Leave to cool while you whip up a thick frosting using the rest of the icing sugar and a splash of water with a squeeze of lemon juice – thick enough to stay put and not go runny as you’ll want it to hold the cherry in place.
13. Put a dab of the lemon frosting in the centre of each biscuit once they have cooled and garnish with a glistening cocktail cherry.

Enjoy with an Amaretto Sour or a damn fine cup of coffee!

Some top tips:

• Get yourself some silicone baking trays and allow to fully cool before lifting off because these babies are STICKY!
• If the mixture is too sloppy/the paste batter won’t hold just 5g more of caster sugar and ground almonds equally until you reach the right consistency.
• Your batter might also be too loose if you didn’t whisk your egg whites enough so make sure, when you think you’re egg white are fully whisked, that you can turn the bowl upside down for a couple of seconds without the eggs pouring out onto the floor.

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Let’s make a(n Italian) meal of it…

If you’re having a dinner party or cooking for someone special – or even treating yourself to a slap-up 3-courser because hey, why TF not?! – and want to stick with the Italian theme, you’ll love my Pan-fried Chicken with Crispy Gnocchi & Boozy Creamed Leeks.

The gnocchi is homemade but don’t let that scare you (it scared me for a while) because it is super simple, super tasty and made using just 3 basic ingredients that you’ll almost definitely already have lying around in your fridge or cupboards.

If you do give any of my recipes a go, don’t forget to share your photos with me on Twitter or Instagram!