Amaretto Breedables Customer Connection

Earlier this week I invited the entire community to send in a favorite Holiday recipe so that I might compile Amaretto Holiday Treats from Around the Globe. The response was quite tasty! Today I will start by posting the recipes sent in by the community and next week will be recipes from the Amaretto Staff, Moderators & the Cookie Monster himself! Thank you to all that sent in these scrumptious recipes and thank you for sharing these wonderful family recipes with your Amaretto Family!

Happy Holidays to one and all! Without further ado, I present to you *drum roll please*
Amaretto Treats from Around the Globe! Enjoy!
We are going to begin our journey in Italy with a recipe submitted by Gisele Rodeyn. Gisele’s submission is in Italian so for all the non-Italian speakers I located a link with not only the recipe in English but a little history on this treat, which sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing Gisele!
http://abruzzotoday.com/abruzzo-recipes/desserts/cicerchiata—carnival-dessert.html

CICERCHIATA- sweet home – Italy
Ingredienti:
-miele purissimo gr. 500
-mandorle gr. 100 frutta
-candita gr. 50
-olio d’oliva un limone
-farina bianca
-poco liquore profumato
-3 uova
Sbattere in una tazza le uova intere, unire due cucchiaiate di olio d’oliva, due cucchiaiate di liquore e un po’ di scorza di limone grattugiata. Sbattere gli ingredienti e poi incorporarvi della farina bianca, tanta quanta ne occorre per ottenere una pasta piuttosto morbida. Lavorarla bene e fare con essa dei bastoncini della grossezza di una matita; con un coltello tagliarli a piccolissimi pezzetti (circa mezzo centimetro), arrotolarli fra le mani e farne tante palline. Porre sul fuoco la padella dei fritti con abbondante olio e quando sarà bollente friggere, poco per volta, le palline di pasta. Scottare un attimo le mandorle in acqua in ebollizione, quindi pelarle e
tagliarle per il lungo ottenendo dei filetti. In un recipiente piuttosto largo versare il miele, porlo sul fuoco e lasciarvelo sino a quando sarà leggermente colorito; per capire il giusto punto di cottura metterne una goccia in un bicchiere di acqua fredda: se il miele indurisce è pronto. Levare il recipiente dal fuoco e unire le palline fritte, mescolare e aggiungere le mandorle e la frutta candita tagliata a minuscoli pezzi. Ungere bene di olio uno stampo rotondo con buco centrale; versare in esso il composto livellandone la superficie. Lasciarlo raffreddare per qualche ora, poi capovolgerlo sul piatto di portata e servirlo. Si accompagna con del buon vino bianco.

The next stop on our journey takes us to Switzerland with a recipe submitted by Omen Neiro. Omen says this is a very good cookie that his mother has made since he was a little boy! Thank you for sharing Omen!

Mailänderli (Milano cookies, Christmas treat)
Ingredients for approximately 80 cookies (depending on the size of a single cookie):
• 250 g (9 ounces) butter or margarine
• 225 g (8 ounces) sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 lemon
• 500 g (18 ounces) flour
• 1 yellow of an egg
Preparation:
1. Stir butter in a bowl until it is smooth.
2. Add sugar, salt and 3 eggs, stir until ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Grind the skin of the lemon and add to the mixture of the previous step.
4. Add flour, knead to a soft dough.
5. Cover the dough and let rest for about 2 hours in a cool place.
6. Cut dough in parts and roll out on a flat, with flour covered surface, approximately 5 mm (0.2 inches) thick. Put out different shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
7. Let cool for about 15 minutes.
8. Before baking, sweep with the yellow of an egg.
9. Bake for about 10 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 200 °C (400 °F).
10. Let cool completely before serving.

After leaving Switzerland we are going to make a stop in beautiful France! Madiken35 Resident submitted a special French Christmas Cake called BUCHE DE NOEL. Ohhh La La that sounds yummy! Thank you for sharing Madi !!

BUCHE DE NOEL ( FRENCH XMAS CAKE )

Ingredients
4 large eggs (separated)
2/3 cup sugar (divided)
2 tbsps water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup cake flour (sifted)
3 tbsps cocoa
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 dash salt
2 1/2 tbsps powdered sugar
2 1/2 tbsps Rich Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup pistachios (chopped)
1/2 cup Meringue Mushrooms (optional) (chopped
Preparation
Grease bottom and sides of a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan; line with wax paper, and grease and flour wax paper. Set aside.
Beat egg yolks in a large mixing bowl at high speed with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until thick and pale. Gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating well. Add water and vanilla. Fold in ground almonds. Gradually fold in cake flour and cocoa.
Beat egg whites at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into egg yolk mixture.
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until top springs back when touched.
Sift powdered sugar in a 15- x 10-inch rectangle on a cloth towel. When cake is done, immediately loosen from sides of pan, and turn out onto sugared towel. Peel off wax paper. Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together; cool completely on a wire rack, seam side down.
Unroll cake, and remove towel. Spread cake with half of Rich Chocolate Buttercream; carefully reroll. Cover and chill. Cut a 1-inch-thick diagonal slice from 1 end of cake roll.
Place cake roll on a serving plate, seam side down; position cut piece against side of cake roll to resemble a knot. Spread remaining Rich Chocolate Buttercream over cake.
Score frosting with the tines of a fork or a cake comb to resemble tree bark. Garnish with pistachios and, if desired, Meringue Mushrooms. Store cake (but not mushrooms) in refrigerator. ENJOYYYYYYYYYY 🙂

Upon leaving France we cross the Celtic Sea into the United Kingdom to enjoy these lovely treats.

First up we have a delicious cookie recipe from Pagan Finesmith. Thank you for sharing Pagan!

Gingernut & Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, slightly crushed
add ginger and nutmeg to taste
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
1. Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.
3. Combine the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips with ginger and nutmeg.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for a crispier cookie. Makes 24 cookies.

Now we certainly couldn’t have Christmas in the UK without a Traditional English Yulelog! This submission by Franncess Resident is definitely a holiday must have! Thank you for sharing Franki!
Franncess Resident ~ Traditional English Christmas Yulelog

The Sponge –

Start with a basic sponge as if you were making Swiss Roll, but replace one quantity of flour with cocoa powder.
75g (3oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
pinch of salt
50g (2oz) plain flour
25g (1oz) cocoa powder

To begin, line a 18 x 28cm (7 x 11in) Swiss-roll tin with baking parchment and grease well. Do this, even if you’re using a non-stick Swiss-roll tin.

Pre-heat your oven to Gas 4/180°C/350°F.

Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. You’re done when you lift your whisk out and it leaves a ribbon trail.

Now gently fold in the flour and cocoa powder. Use a big spoon and work quickly. You don’t want to knock out too much of the air so be careful.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread out.

Bake for approx. 20-25 mins.

Remove the sponge from the oven and turn out onto another sheet of greaseproof paper that you’ve sprinkled with sugar. Leaving both sheets of paper in place, gently roll up the sponge and leave until completely cooled.

Meanwhile, make the filling.

Filling –

For the chocolate filling you can either make chocolate butter icing or mix a thick chocolate cream. Choose whichever you like better.

Chocolate Butter Icing

This is easy to make. Just mix together until light and fluffy.
75g (3oz) butter
150g (6oz) sifted icing sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
1-2 tbsp water

Chocolate Cream

Somehow, this comes out lighter than the butter cream mixture. Make sure you use really good dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids) for the cream. Cheap chocolate does not work well.

You need:
284ml carton whipping cream
200g (8oz) best dark chocolate

Break up the chocolate into chunks and melt over a bowl of hot (not boiling!) water. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl or the chocolate will curdle.

In a small pan heat the cream. When close to boiling point, take off the heat and stir gently into the melted chocolate until completely combined.

Leave to cool, then place in the fridge to chill.

When ready to use (and very cold) beat the mixture until fluffy. Be careful though, you don’t want to end up with chocolate butter!

Assembling the Yule Log

When ready to assemble, carefully unroll your sponge and peel off the greaseproof backing paper.

Spread about 1/4 of the filling over the sponge, then roll up carefully with the help of the second, sugar-covered paper.

Place on a large plate or tray, join underneath.

Cover with the rest of the chocolate cream. Use a fork to mark the covering into the resemblance of tree bark.

Dust with a little cocoa powder or sprinkle dark chocolate curls and shavings over the top.

Decorate with holly leaves and berries.

After those super sweet treats I think we had best wait and take a rest before we cross the big pond to find out what Holiday Treats our community members from the USA have shared with us.
So until my next blog, Happy Breeding and Happy Baking!