This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Dario Bivona, winner of the show The best pastry chef in Quebec, wanted to create a dessert suitable for gluten and dairy intolerant people. Based on a marzipan recipe, very popular in Puglia, the region of Italy where he is from, he added a little touch of personal freshness with lemon in three ways (zest, aroma and limoncello) . ” These pizzicottisimplissimes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Everyone loves them! he exclaims.
Makes 20-22 cookies
Rest: 6 hours
Cooking: about 13 min
Ingredients
300 g (2 ½ cups) almond flour
250 g (1 ¼ cup) sugar
2 egg whites
2.5 ml (½ tsp) bitter almond flavoring
2.5 ml (½ tsp) lemon flavoring (optional)
45 ml (3 tbsp.) limoncello
Zest of 2 lemons, grated
130 g (1 cup) icing sugar
Preparation
1. In a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, on low speed, combine the almond flour and sugar. Add egg whites, bitter almond flavouring, lemon flavouring, if desired, limoncello and lemon zest. Mix until you obtain a light dough, but which holds together well.
2. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 6 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) in convection mode (recommended) or to 200°C (400°F) in traditional mode. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. With damp hands, form balls of dough about 30 g (2 tablespoons). Roll the balls in icing sugar before placing them on the baking sheet. Pinch the balls between the thumb, index and middle fingers to give them the characteristic shape of pizzicotti (to see the photo).
5. Bake for 12 minutes or until barely golden. Let cool completely before enjoying.
Advice
• You can try other flavor combinations, such as lime zest and white rum, orange zest and Grand Marnier, instant coffee in sambuca… Be inspired by your craving of the moment!
• In addition, to make your cookies more pretty and fun, once you have pinched them, garnish them with red and green candied cherries, strips of lemon zest or candied oranges, or even coffee beans. Let your imagination run wild!
Recipe from the book Dario’s dessertsEditions de l’Homme
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.