Instead of filling Brandy snaps with cream, I like to fill them with ricotta, like the Sicilian Cannoli. Today I chopped a few pieces of candied fruit (green melon and papaya, because I didn't have any candied citrus fruit) and mixed it with ricotta. I also added 1 tsp of vanilla icing sugar (icing sugar kept in a tin with a vanilla pod) and then I wanted to add 1 tbsp of orange blossom water, but it was out of date, so I added rose water instead. I will use the old orange blossom water for my bath (why through it away when you can have a sweet smelling bath!). I thinned down the ricotta with a little milk until it was soft, and piped it inside the Brandy snaps. But you don't have to stick to this recipe: add what you like, for example chopped dark chocolate, ground pistachio nuts, a little cinnamon... anything that sounds Mediterranean! I hope that you will like the idea!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

For these I used 200 g of almonds and 5 apricot kernels (enough to give the almonds a more distinctive flavour). If you like to know more about apricot kernels click here. I blanched everything in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then I removed the skins.



I placed the blanched almonds (and the blanched apricot kernels) in the food processor with 100 g of icing sugar. I processed the nuts but not into a 'flour', more like into a coarse mixture, like a crumble mixture. I stirred in one egg white (not need to beat it first, these are not amaretti biscuits), and then I shaped the 'fingers' with wet hands. More than baking, these biscuits need to 'dry', so I placed them in the fan oven at 180°C for 5 minutes, then I turned the oven off and let them dry until they were cold.