Showing posts with label Amaretto Cherries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amaretto Cherries. Show all posts

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Amaretto Cherry Butter & Kiss Me Scones

If you’ve been following along with me this week then you should have a lovely batch of Amaretto Cherries on hand. You can turn these cherries into the most absolutely delicious Amaretto Cherry Butter, and/or use them to flavor sugared Kiss Me Scones, both of which you can serve for Valentine’s breakfast. I used the entire jar of maraschino cherries that yielded approximately a cup of cherries. I divided these in half in order to make a half-cup of Amaretto Cherry Butter, and used the rest in the scones. This is a delicious combination, sure to please and delight your loved one on Valentine’s morning.
Amaretto Cherry Butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup Amaretto Cherries

Mince cherries (I pulsed mine a couple of times in my bullet blender), and beat into softened butter. You can use an electric beater for this, or, if you have decently strong arm muscles, a whisk. I molded my butter into heart shapes using
this mold, but you can just as easily turn yours out into an attractive container and set it on your breakfast table.

Kiss Me Scones

2 cups sifted cake flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 egg

1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

1/2 cup heavy cream

Heavy Cream
Pink Sanding Sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.





In the work bowl of a food processor combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.  Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal; empty mixture into a large bowl. Place cherries into the food processor; pulse, and empty/scrape into the large bowl.

Place egg, cream, and almond flavoring into the food processor and pulse until combined. When thoroughly blended, pour it over the flour/cherry mixture in the large bowl and fold until it just comes together.  Add 1-3 more teaspoons of cream, if needed.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, press into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Cut out hearts with a heart-shaped biscuit cutter and arrange 2 inches apart on a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Gather scraps together and cut out additional scones.

Brush tops of scones with cream and sprinkle liberally with pink sanding sugar. Bake scones, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack before serving. Serve with Amaretto Cherry Butter.


Makes 8-10

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Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Amaretto Cherries


This is just a quickie little blog post to introduce you to the wonders of Amaretto Cherries. If you have never soaked cherries in any type of alcohol before, you are in for a real treat. It’s a very simple process; essentially you replace the juice in which the cherries are packed with the alcoholic beverage of your choice. Amaretto is what is commonly used, with good reason, cherries pair beautifully with almonds. Give this a try, keep them in your fridge, and stay tuned for what’s to come. I have some wonderful recipes that make use of Amaretto Cherries.
Amaretto Cherries

1 6-oz. jar maraschino cherries, drained (SAVE JUICE!)
1 cup Amaretto liqueur
1 cup Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, optional

Soak the drained cherries in Amaretto 6-8 hours or overnight. Drain the cherries, reserving (and refrigerating) Amaretto for other use. Dry cherries with paper towels if you plan to dip them in chocolate.

At this point the cherries can be used, as is, in the recipe of your choice. If you would like to dip them in chocolate, place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, and melt on high, in the microwave, at 15-second intervals, stirring between each. Dip cherries in melted chocolate, and place on wax paper to dry.


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