Original Italian Amaretti

Unfortunately those small peaces of pleasure and not made by me, but there were so delicious that I had to share this recipe with you!! Those Amaretti are amazing, their almond flavor and soft texture are just perfect for any occasion! It is really hard to resist...

Ingredients:

• 400 g already grounded almonds. (if you can't find them you can ground them in a mixer) 
• 1 teaspoon of bitter almond essence - optionally
• 400 g sugar
• 4 egg whites fresh
• zest from 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or 1 package of vanilla sugar (16g)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 160ºC.  

Poor the almonds into a large mixing bowl add 300g of sugar, lemon zest and vanilla and almond extract, mix everything together. 

In a separate mixing bowl beat the egg whites until you will get a white delicate foam. Gently mix the almonds with the foam until all the ingredients combine. Now using your hands you should be able to form small balls, approx. as large as walnuts. Dip every ball in the remaining sugar and place on the baking tin previously lined with baking paper. Don't put the amaretti too close to each other because they will stick. 

Now put your amaretti to the oven and bake for about 15 min. The amaretti will be ready when you notice small cracks on the surface of every amaretti. 

Buon Appetito!!! 

Semifreddo Tiramisu di Lorena

Semifreddo stays for semi-cold and is an Italian cool dessert. It is something between an ice-cream and a light creamy mousse but the difference is that you don't need any ice-cream machine to prepare it and the result is just as tasty. Perfect for warm summer days but also great treat when accompanied with a small espresso. Semifreddo can be plain or flavored with cookies or fruits. I will show you a very simple and light recipe for a Semifreddo with a Tiramisu flavor.

PS. Many thanks to Lorena for sharing this recipe with me :) 

Ingredients:

• 300g ladyfingers (I have used approx. 20 pieces)
• 1 cup of strong coffee
• 400g ricotta cheese
• 150g sugar
• 150ml light cream 15%
• 1 package vanilla sugar
• cacao powder

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl beat ricotta, sugar and vanilla sugar until combined. Whisk the light cream in a separate bowl and gently add to the ricotta mixture and combine all together. Prepare the coffee, if you like you can add some sugar. Gently dip the ladyfingers in the coffee, you have to be careful because the ladyfingers are easy to break.

Now it is up to you... You can give your semifreddo the shape you like :) I have used silicon cupcake moulds but you can prepare a dish 20cmx20cm approximately. On the bottom of your dish put the first layer of the coffee ladyfingers next put a layer of ricotta mixture followed with another layer of ladyfingers and again ricotta, and you are done :) Put the dish into the freezer for about 2- 3hours.

Take it out from the fridge approximately 30min before serving, then your semifredddo will be still cool but it will start to melt a bit and you will get a very nice and creamy texture. Just before serving spread a bit of cacao powder on the top of your dessert.