Peanut cinnamon amaretti and no time for blogging

My days have been pretty busy lately, and I guess that some of you already know that given my disappearing from the blog. :)

However, I wanted to stop by quickly today and give you a recipe that I simply adore - and that is also quick to put together: the amaretti I make by replacing the almonds with a very Brazilian ingredient, peanuts, and adding a touch of cinnamon. Let’s call this an Italian-Brazilian cookie (I do like to mix and match countries in my kitchen). :) They go wonderfully with coffee and tea, and are also delicious broken into smaller pieces and sprinkled on top of ice cream.

Peanut amaretti
own recipe

2 ½ cups (250g) peanut meal (finely ground peanuts)
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 large egg whites (56g)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut meal, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the egg whites and the vanilla and mix until a dough forms.

Roll 2 teaspoons of dough per cookie into balls and place onto prepared sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart. Press down slightly with your fingers. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Cool in the sheets over a wire rack.

Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Makes about 35

Plum and amaretti crumble - 33°C and all

One resolution I’m keeping in 2014 is to continue using the inventory idea (thank you, Martha!) – it’s worked fine so far and avoided lots of waste. However, I’m not perfect (the Internet seems to make us all look very neat and tidy and put together all the time, doesn’t it? I don’t like that at all) and I do deviate from my plan now and then, and that is what happened when I bought a small bag of amaretti for my Christmas rocky road and ended up using Turkish delight instead.

Stone fruits are in season here right now and I’ve been enjoying cherries, plums and peaches like there’s no tomorrow – I would love to bake with them, too, but the problem is I usually eat them all before turning the oven on (which has been hard to do lately here because of the awful heat). Days ago, 33°C (91°F) and all, I decided to make Nigella’s plum crumble, that way using some of the amaretti left from the Christmas baking. It was really delicious: the flavor of the cookies paired beautifully with the ripe, juicy plums, and a small jug of very cold cream helped bring down the temperature a little (that and a cold shower right after dessert). :D

Plum and amaretti crumble
slightly adapted from the super delicious Nigellissima: Instant Italian Inspiration

Fruit:
35g amaretti biscuits (crunchy, not morbidi) - I used these
½ tablespoon unsalted butter
250g ripe red plums, quartered if large, halved if small, stones removed
½ tablespoon granulated sugar
finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

Crumble topping:
50g all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
30g cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Have ready a 1 ½ cup (360ml) capacity ovenproof dish. Crush the amaretti with your hands and set aside.
Fruit: melt the butter in a small saucepan (that has a lid), add the plums, sprinkle in the sugar, add the lemon zest and juice and shake the pan over the heat, cooking for two minutes without a lid and two further minutes with the lid on. Transfer the plums to the dish and sprinkle with half the crushed amaretti.

Topping: put the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a small bowl and mix to combine. Add the butter and rub the ingredients with your fingertips until you get a mixture that resembles coarse crumbs. With a fork, mix in the remaining amaretti crumbs. Spread mixture over plums, then bake for about 20 minutes or until topping is golden and fruit is bubbling around the edges. Set aside for 10 minutes, then serve with cream or ice cream.

Serves 1