Tonight I’m invited to a little engagement party for one of my best friends. We all had to bring something to eat, I took care of the dessert.
I missed Italy a bit so I was inspired by one of their recipe to create their sweet treats, which I hope will delight my friends as well as your taste buds.
Ingredients:
- 180 g almond meal or blanched ground almonds
- 110 g caster / superfine sugar
- 2 tsp lemon zest (1 lemon)
- 3 drops natural almond extract (or vanilla extract for me)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 60 g dried cherries , chopped (or chocolate chips)
- 2 egg whites , at room temperature (from 2 large eggs)
- 2 tsp honey
Almond coating:
- 1 Extra egg white
- 150 g flaked almonds
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F (170°C fan). Line 2 trays with baking/parchment paper.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Place the almond meal, sugar, zest, almond extract and salt in a bowl. Whisk together until zest and almond extract is evenly distributed. Add the cherries and set aside
- Beat eggs whites: Using an electric mixer or a whisk, beat the egg whites and honey to soft peaks (Note 5). About 2 minutes on Speed 8 of a handheld beater, or 1 1/2 minutes on Speed 6 of a stand mixer.
- Fold the beaten egg whites gently into the almond mixture. You will seemingly knock most of the air out of the meringue, that’s ok! (You actually haven’t 🙂 ).
Forming and coating cookies:
- Place Extra egg white in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until foamy. Place flaked almonds in another bowl.
- Form 2.5cm/1″ balls: Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape into a rough ball (2.5cm/1″ ball). I do this using 2 eating spoons – we don’t need perfect balls here.
- Coat in egg whites: Drop the ball into foamy egg whites. Use 2 forks to turn to coat, then pick up and place in the flaked almonds.
- Almond coating: Coat cookies with the almonds, pressing them on to cover as completely as you can. Don’t worry if you get some double layers or pieces sticking out – no need to be neat or thorough here!
- Bake 13 minutes: Place on prepared tray 2.5cm / 1″ apart. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Start checking at 12 minutes to be sure the nuts aren’t burning
- Cool: Transfer to rack to cool completely before serving.
- Store: Store in an airtight container. They last up to 10 days in a storage container or can be frozen
To serve them, I provided vanilla ice cream
I hope you’ll like it guys!
Nilsa's world 