Apricot, Amaretti, Chocolate Crunch Cake

If like me you're a fan of those deliciously bitter sweet Almond Amaretti biscuits then you're going to love this cake,  A deliciously different bake with the tang of fresh apricots, creaminess of dark chocolate along with the crunch and nuttiness of the Amaretti. I've adapted the recipe from a leaflet that I picked up in Waitrose a while back...sometimes these little giveaway recipes are a real treasure to find.

Here's a little bit of the interesting history of these wonderful little Italian Almond Macaroons that I have sourced from Wikipedia. I didn't realise that they had such a romantic connotation or that the actual crushed kernels of the apricot stone were often used to make these darling morsels.
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 Amaretti di Saronno (singular amaretto di Saronno) refer to an amaretto (almond flavored) macaroon that is traditional to Saronno, a comune of Lombardy, Italy. It is one of many types of traditional amaretto biscuits.

The Amaretti di Saronno are widely available commercially, most notably through the brand Lazzaroni. Amaretti di Saronno are unrelated to Amaretto liqueur, which is produced by two other companies based in Saronno - ILLVA and PLF.

The invention of this amaretto has received an amorous Renaissance treatment. In the early 18th century, a Milanese bishop or cardinal surprised the town of Saronno with a visit. A young couple, residents of the town, welcomed him and paid tribute with an original confection: on the spur of the moment, they had baked biscuits made of sugar, egg whites, and crushed apricot kernels or almonds. These so pleased the visiting bishop that he blessed the two with a happy and lifelong marriage, resulting in the preservation of the secret recipe over many generations.

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 THE CAKE:-

It's a really easy throw everything together recipe that takes only minutes to prepare. We enjoyed this over the weekend with our late morning coffee instead of our normal brunch but it certainly can be eaten at any time of the day and would make the perfect dinner time dessert when served with a dollop of mascarpone.

If you prefer to measure your ingredients rather than weigh them here's a detailed conversion chart

THE INGREDIENTS:-

200 gms Skinned and chopped fresh Apricot flesh ( approximately 4 large or 6 small fruits chopped into 1" cubes)
50 gms dark chocolate chips
150 gms Amaretti (roughly crushed)
125 gms Plain flour
1½ tsp Baking Powder
100gms Ground Almonds
3 eggs beaten
175 gms unsalted butter ( at room temperature)
175 gms caster (superfine sugar)
A little Icing (Confectioners Sugar) to dust
A chopped apricot to decorate (optional)

Butter and line a 20cm baking tin (preferably with a loose base) with baking parchment..

Set the oven to 150c 300F Gas 2

METHOD:-

Place the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, almonds and eggs into a large bowl and beat together either with a whisk or by hand until well combined.

Now fold in carefully ¾ of the chocolate chips, ¾ of the chopped apricots and ¾ of the Amaretti biscuits.

Place the batter into the prepared tin ...level it and then roughly scatter over the  remaining chocolate chips, apricots & Amaretti.

Place in the centre of the pre-heated oven and bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.  Check to make sure there is no wobble in the centre of the cake, Test with a skewer if it comes out clean it's ready. Test at 7 minute intervals if it isn't quite baked through.

Leave in the tin on a wire rack until quite cold.  Remove the parchment paper and it's ready to serve
Dust with icing sugar and decorate with a chopped apricot (Optional)

We served ours with deliciously creamy Mascarpone on the side

   











  

Blitzens Chewy Amaretti & Almond bites for the grown-ups

Poor Blitzen......why should Rudolf get all the attention? I wanted to devise a little treat for grown-ups over the Christmas period. These Apricot, Amaretti, Almond squares are based on the kiddies Rocky Road. They're chewy thanks to the Rolos & have a little crunch from the addition of Maltesers. I've just upped the anti and given them a little twist and a touch of sophistication for the adult palate. Just leave out the Amaretto if serving to children and perhaps use milk chocolate instead of the bitter dark.

Really easy to make as there's no baking required just a few hours of chilling in the fridge.  They will be perfect with coffee after Christmas lunch instead of the usual Mince Pies or After Eight mints.

Ingredients

200g/7oz good quality 70% solid Dark Chocolate (I used Green & Blacks)
3 tbsp. Golden or Corn Syrup
150g/5oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp. Amaretto liqueur (optional)

Melt all of the above in a large bowl over simmering water. Remove from heat as soon as it's all melted & combined.

100g/3½ oz dried apricots chopped
75g/ 3oz flaked almonds
100g /3½ Amaretti biscuits lightly broken
a packet of Rolos slice them in half
130g approx. 4oz White Maltesers

line a 9"/23cm tin with baking parchment

Reserve around a third of the melted chocolate mixture
Reserve around 20 Maltesers & half of the chopped apricots for the top

Add all the dry ingredients to the melted chocolate and mix well together
Pour over the remaining reserved chocolate
Decorate with the remaining apricots & Maltesers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight
use a really sharp knife to cut into 20 equal squares.
Stored in an airtight container in the fridge they should keep for at least a week.
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Chocolate Gypsy Creams

Now here's a recipe that takes me straight back to the 1970's when I just couldn't get enough of the damn things. Perfect biccie to dunk in your tea, crumbly, oatie and that lovely buttercream that would melt as it warmed up in your cuppa. Hope you try them and enjoy them as much as we have. Really easy to make as the biscuits are prepared in a saucepan. The recipe will make around 12. I'd double it if I were you as they won't last long, these disappeared within a couple of hours.

If you prefer to measure rather than weigh click here Easy Conversion Chart

biscuit ingredients to make 12

100g/ 4 oz butter
3 level tbsp golden syrup ( use dark corn syrup if not available)
50g/2oz sugar
50g/2oz porridge oats
10g/½oz cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
175g/6oz flour

buttercream ingredients

150g/5oz icing sugar
50g/2oz softened butter
1tbsp milk or cream
50g/2oz melted dark chocolate

method

Pre-heat the oven to 170c/325f/gas3
brush oil onto 3 baking trays

In a large saucepan place the butter, syrup & sugar and gently melt them together
Sift the flour with the cocoa
Add the oats & flour mix to the pan and mix well together
Leave to cool slightly
Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls with your hands,
you will need 24 for 12 biscuits
Place on the oiled baking sheets leaving lots of room between each biscuit
Flatten the balls slightly with the back of a fork.
Bake for approximately 20 mins until baked through.
Leave on the trays until completely cold before removing with a pallette knife.

While they are baking make the filling

just beat all the ingredients together using a hand held electric whisk

Sandwich two biscuits together, dust with a little icing sugar and enjoy.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cheesecake

This is a Nigella Lawson Recipe but tweaked a little in a Dor fashion.

Before I start, this cheesecake is not for the faint hearted or anyone watching their weight. It's rich, delicious and totally indulgent. Great for a special party or a Christmas dessert. Portion it carefully, you really won't need a huge slice for once.

I've not got a sweet tooth at all but I do love the odd bit of chocolate. Two of my favourite things however are cheese & nuts. So what could be better for me than this Chocolate, peanut butter Cheesecake. The base is made with Chocolate Digestives (Graham Crackers), dark chocolate drops and roasted peanuts.

The Cheesecake centre is made with eggs, Philly, peanut butter just a little sugar and sour cream.
The chocolate top is quite decadent, brown sugar, rich dark chocolate a a great dollop of sour cream.

 

 You will need to line a 23cm /10" loose bottomed tin with baking parchment. Or alternatively use a silicone mould of the same size

The Base

• 200g/7oz  chocolate digestives /Graham crackers
• 50g/2oz salted roasted peanuts
• 100g/3½oz dark chocolate
• 50g/2oz softened salted butter
•  

The Cheesecake centre

• 500g/1lb 1oz Philly or a good quality cream cheese
• 3 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 200g/7oz caster sugar
• 125ml/4¼fl oz sour cream
• 250g/9oz smooth peanut butter
• a tbsp of brandy if for adults only
•  

The Chocolate top

• 250ml/9fl oz sour cream
• 100g/3½oz 70% good quality dark chocolate
• 30g/1¼oz light muscavado

 

Method:-

 

Set your oven to 170c/325f/Gas 3 

1. For the base, process the biscuits, peanuts, dark chocolate chips and butter in a food processor. Once the mixture comes together, turn it out into a 23cm/9in spring form tin and press it into the bottom of the tin and up the sides, using your fingers, to make a crunchy crust. Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.
2. For the filling, process the cream cheese, eggs and egg yolks, sugar, soured cream and peanut butter & the optional brandy in a food processor, whizzing to a smooth mixture.
3. Pour and scrape the filling mixture into the cheesecake base in the chilled spring form tin and cook for 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. The top – only – should feel set and dry. When cooked, take the cheesecake out of the oven while you make the topping.
4. For the topping, warm the soured cream and chocolate chips with the brown sugar gently in a small saucepan over a low heat, whisking to blend in the chocolate as it melts. Once the mixture is melted and well combined, take off the heat.
5. Pour over and spread the topping very gently over the top of the cheesecake, Pop it back in the oven for a final 10 minutes.
6. Once out of the oven, let the cheesecake cool completely in its tin, then cover and put into the fridge overnight. When you are ready to eat the cheesecake, take it out and bring it  for around 30 minutes before serving. 
7. this freezes surprisingly well. Make sure you defrost in the fridge overnight before serving. 

 

Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars

I have been making Nanaimo Bars since I first visited Vancouver in the 1970s. The original recipe was from one of my most used cook books ever. 'Mama never cooked like this' by Susan Mendelson. This book also has the best baked cheesecake recipe ever. The pages are stuck together with all sorts of delicious ingredients from over the years. Hopefully it could still be in print so I can invest in another copy one day.

 


This recipe has been adapted to incorporate the boys favourite combos of chocolate & peanut butter. It also proved to be a big hit on my Facebook page coming in at number 3 in my popular baking posts. The recipe is such a easy no-bake and will make lots & lots of bars which will freeze well if they're not all scoffed as soon as they're made. Hope you're going to enjoy them.


The main difference between the original and this recipe is the 2nd layer which has been changed to a peanut butter filling.

The Base:- to fit in a 9" /23cm square tin, greased & lined with parchment
125 gms/ around 1/2 cup butter
55 gms/1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp cocoa powder
400gms Digestive biscuits crushed / 2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs
100 gms desiccated coconut / 1cup sweetened coconut flakes
100 gms chopped nuts / 1/2 cup. I used walnuts but almonds, pecans or any other chopped nuts should do nicely.
Melt the butter, sugar, vanilla gently in a bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water.
As soon as it's melted but NOT HOT beat in the egg, add the cocoa, biscuit,, coconut & chopped nuts
Press firmly into the baking tray. Put into the fridge until really firm

The Middle layer:-
75gms butter/ 1/3 cup butter
115gms/ 1/2 cup Smooth peanut butter ****(if you don't like peanut butter see below)
100 gms icing sugar / 2 cups Confectioners sugar
Beat together until light & smooth
Spread evenly over the base
Place in the freezer for 25 minutes to set

Chocolate top:-
100gms / 4oz 70% dark chocolate
75 gms/ 1tbsp butter
Melt very gently together in a bowl over a pan of hot water stirring all the time.
Pour over the peanut butter layer & roll carefully into the corners completely coating everything.
Chill until cool. Cut into slices, squares or however you want.

***** alternative 2nd layer the original ingredients are 55gms Butter, 3tbsp milk, 400gms icing sugar, 2 tbsp custard powder, beaten together.