The Recipe Room

The shape of these Amaretti chocolate sticks is created by wrapping the biscuits around a spoon handle whilst they are still warm. Why chocolate sticks?  Well here’s a little aside for you…

The word chocolate may well have its origins in the Mayan word, ‘xocolatl’. There’s debate over its meaning – it could translate as ‘bitter water’ which comes from ‘xoco’ (bitter) and ‘atle’ (water). This beverage was the first hot chocolate. Or it could be because the word is onomatopoeic – it sounds like what it describes. For instance, if you say it over and over, it sounds like the beating or pounding of the sticks that would have been used back then in the preparation of the beans.

So you can see where I got the stick idea from… let’s get on with the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 4 tbsp double cream
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 300g good dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 6 tbsp almond-flavoured liqueur
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g unsalted butter, melted

Preparation Guidelines:

1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC.
2. Line 4 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg white together with the sugar.
4. Sift the cocoa powder and the flour into the bowl, then add the butter and the cream, and stir the whole mixture together.
5. Lift and place 4 dessertspoons of the mixture onto one of the lined baking trays.  Space them well apart so that they don’t touch as they cook.  Smooth each one out into an oval shape, gently, with the back of the spoon.
6. Cook the biscuits in the preheated oven for 4 minutes until the edges of the biscuits darken a little and spread.
7. Take the tray out of the oven and let the biscuits rest for 30 seconds. Then lift each biscuit using a palette knife and wrap them around the handle of a wooden spoon until they set into their rolled stick shape.  Once set, remove them carefully and place them onto a cooling rack.  Repeat until all of the biscuits are cooked and set into shape.
8. Melt the chocolate, stir in the almond liqueur, then dip the biscuit sticks into the chocolate, letting any excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.  Place the chocolate-covered sticks onto a sheet of greaseproof paper to set.
9. Present in little pots.  If any are left over, they can be stored in an airtight container.

Time: 20 minutes to prepare, plus setting.  4 minutes cooking time for each batch.

Cocoa Treats: 32

Tags: almond flavoured liqueur, Amaretti Chocolate Sticks, butter, cocoa, cocoa treats, dark chocolate, desserts, double cream, eggs, flour, party food, sugar

This entry was posted on Monday, 9 April, 2012 at 4:51 pm by Christina Warren and is filed under Desserts, Less than 90 mins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed RSS 2.0. You can leave a comment, or make a trackback from your own blog.