Tuesday 14 December 2010

A gorgeous and quick present- biscuits with Baileys hazelnut liqueur and chocolate

I was inspired to come up with these really gorgeous Italian style hazelnut/chocolate biscuits as a quick little present this Christmas , through an unexpected email I received in the beginning of this month.
A lovely lady , Sarah Stevens, from a company called Grayling, wrote to me about my blog and how she loved my Bakewell tart, which recipe you can see here.
She then asked  if she could send me a sample of the new Baileys flavour, Baileys Hazelnut to try out in some of my recipes if I was thinking of doing seasonal recipes.
I thought it would be really fun to have a starting point and to try out lots of things around hazelnut and hazelnut liqueur - so yummy- so I had a bit of a think and have come up with this several recipes- this one is the first.
The combination of hazelnut and chocolate is a match made in heaven- just perfect.
Great with a strong espresso- mmm!
You can make it look very pretty by wrapping it , just like Italian Amaretti biscuits, in white tissue paper with a gold ribbon as you can see here above.
The recipe is super-easy- honestly. 
Give it a try!!
The ingredients are as here below :


Ingredients
340 gram ground almonds
340 gram caster sugar
half a cup of chocolate / cocoa powder
4 egg-whites
30 ml Baileys Hazelnut liqueur

How to make the biscuits:
Prepare 2 baking sheets by covering them with aluminium foil and greasing the foil with butter.Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Centigrade.
Whip the egg-whites till they are stiff  and you can get real peaks from them.
Fold the sugar, ground almonds, cocoa powder and hazelnut liqueur into the stiff egg-whites and get it to be a sticky but well-mixed dough.Don't over-mix ( and don't use a mixer but mix by hand ) -so there is no more air in the egg-white mixture, try to keep it light!!
Fill the baking trays with small blobs of the sticky dough- two teaspoons each is about right, 2 cm apart.
See below.


Then bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes- that is how long mine took to be done.The inside will still be a bit goey, but the outside should be done and crunchy to the touch.
Take off the baking trays and put on a plate or rack to cool down.
You can then put them all in a biscuit tin and give them as a present like below- to the right.
Or you can wrap them separately like amaretti biscuits, see here below and present  with coffee to your friends and family after Christmas lunch. Just take a square of some tissue paper, white or coloured, then twist the paper around the biscuit and tie a golden ribbon as decoration.
Whatever you do, your best bet is probably to give them away, as they are so tasty you will eat them all in one go !!!!Hand these out and make other people happy-much better for keeping your figure !!!
Happy baking!!
                                                        In the next week or so I will do some more seasonal baking and
will be covering some more holiday decorations and gifts, amongst which this gingerbreadhouse so stay tuned!


 I am linking this to the culinary smackdown battle
                                    It's a keeper Thursday link party. ( You can find the link at the bottom of my blog )

17 comments:

Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder said...

Dearest Bea,

Oh, I love those Italian Amaretti, that's how I bake them in heart shapes (my blog of December 4 you can see them...) and everyone loves those. With chocolate is another great idea and also to wrap them like this. Thanks for sharing!
Have a great Wednesday,

Mariette's Back to Basics

Decor To Adore said...

Oh this looks SO yummy and something I could possibly attempt to create. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

This is such a beautiful combination of flavors. I love amaretti cookies but have never tried making them. Thanks for sharing with us at Sundays at One Food Club. Hugs, Angie.

Decor To Adore said...

Oh your tablescape makes me feel merry and bright!

Seasons greetings to you and yours.

Donnie said...

I bought some of the new Bailey's Hazelnut and just loved it in our coffee for a sweet after dinner treat. I hadn't thought about cooking with it. That looks delicious.

Karen Chan said...

Thanks for stopping by! Beautiful blog! looking forward to seeing your gingerbread house...

Michele {The Scrap Shoppe} said...

Yum! This sounds SO good! I'm not sure I would be able to give them away. Thank you for linking this up to Homemade Christmas!

Entertaining Women said...

Such a great idea! Thank you for sharing your gift ideas and the recipe. Merry Christmas! Cherry Kay

Johanna Gehrlein said...

Hello,
that was a nice challenge to bake something with Baileys flavour and you were very succesful. I love Amaretti and I will try this yummy recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
Greetings, Johanna

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

This recipe looks delicious and would make a nice hostess gift.
Merry Christmas.

Sandi@ Rose Chintz Cottage said...

Thanks for sharing; looks wonderful, and I love the gingerbread house!

Christmas blessings,
Sandi

The Tablescaper said...

These look so delicious.

I'm totally loving you header!!!!

It's great having you be a part of of Seasonal Sundays. Happy New Year.

- The Tablescaper

Diann said...

Oooh, this looks delish!
Happy New Year!

Simone @ Doberman's by the Sea said...

They sure sound delicious! Happy New Year.

Marlis said...

Looks fabulous... Happy New Year

Amy said...

Thank you for participating the Smackdown Battle. Best of luck to you. I love the flavor combination of these biscuits! Wonderful choice to submit these cookies for the contest.

If you haven’t done so, please sign up as a follower on my blog so you won’t miss out on the winner announcement and new posts. Have a wonderful day!

Amy
http://utry.it

Anonymous said...

Love these ameretti, so true hazelnut and chocolate is a divine combination!
http://yvettesblogs.com/2011/03/03/princess-cookies/