Here’s Sara’s second Parrozzo recipe [par-ròz-zo], the typical Abruzzo Christmas cake. This time she used almonds, red fruits and ratafià (i.e. wild cherry liquor), coated with white chocolate.

The outcome is a balanced combination of a rich aromatic bouquet and colors, thanks to candied citrus fruits mixed to red berries, sweet almond meal and white chocolate.

Check here the recipe for Almond & Pistachios Mini Parrozzi, glazed with dark chocolate

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Sweet Recipe: Almond, Candied Fruits and Ratafià Liqueur mini Parrozzi

Ingredients

• 150 g “semola” durum wheat flour (*)
• 220 g caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 150 g unpeeled almonds
• 50 g half-candied red fruits – sour cherries, cherries, strawberries (**)
• 3 spoonfuls evo oil
• 1 shot of ratafià liqueur

Chocolate glazing

• 200 g white chocolate

(*) The original recipe requires semolina, whose grain is coarser than durum wheat flour, which I prefer.
(**) If you prefer you can use bits of sour cherries in syrup, or frozen berries (patting the frozen berries dry with several layers of paper towels and dusting with a bit of flour before mixing).

Instructions

1. Finely mince the almonds. In a bowl, lightly whip egg yolks, add the sugar (keep 1 spoonful for egg whites). Keep whipping until they turn into a soft yellow cream. In another bowl beat egg whites with the spoonful of sugar until stiff (beating gently at the beginning).
2. Fold the egg whites into the yolk-cream using a wooden spoon or spatula and gently turn the first mixture over onto the other, (the purpose of folding is to retain the air you have whipped into the whites).
3. Add the oil, then almonds and semola, next the berries and the ratafia’. Mix just until batter reaches the ribbon stage.
4. Butter and dust the molds/tins with little flour, fill them up to 2 cm from edge. Bake at 180 °C (pre-heated oven) for about 40 minutes. Let cakes cool before removing them from the tins.
5. Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over a simmering pan of water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Leave aside to cool slightly before using it to glaze the “mini parrozzi”.

Presentation

It’s a holiday arrangement on a crystal cake stand with handmade sugar paste decorations made by my twin sister Maria, a “cake designer at heart”.