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Ginger, Zing, Froth: The Amaretto Sour

January 27, 2018 By Caroline 6 Comments

You’ll have to bring some muscle to shake up this cocktail, but it’s well worth it! I have yet to find someone who doesn’t love this drink. The ginger, lemon and Amaretto combine to offer just the right amount of lemony zing, warm gingery spice and nutty Amaretto. The froth on top balances out the sour flavours providing an elegant creamy finish. There is no added sugar or syrup—just a few simple ingredients are required.

Amaretto Sour: the fun drink with ginger, zing and froth!

Unless you are able to find a top-notch restaurant in a major urban centre, it can be hard to find a good quality cocktails when eating out. So many places load up on sugary syrups that seem designed to try to hide the alcohol flavours rather than accent them. All the more reason to expand your cocktail repertoire at home where you can control everything going into your drink.

This combination works because the ingredients are very fresh and simple: fresh ginger, choppped;

Ginger is peeled and freshly chopped

Freshly squeezed lemon juice,

lemon juice

Amaretto, of course…

Now before continuing with the rest of the ingredients, a word on Amaretto. Italian for “a little bitter”, Amaretto is an almond-flavoured liqueur that is frequently made from apricot pits, almonds, or both. The bitterness is rather mild and the drink is often made with sweet almonds to enhance the final flavour. If you are thinking you don’t want to get a bottle of this to try for one drink only for it to sit there, consider that Amaretto is very versatile and is called for in many recipes including Tiramisu, a flavour enhancer for whipped cream, as an additive for baked treats like biscotti, and savoury dishes, too. Not to mention, slipping a little into your evening coffee can be a nice treat as well 🙂 Now, back to our Amaretto Sours…


Amaretto liqueur

…don’t forget to add a splash or two of Angostura bitters. I did a side-by-side comparison with and without the bitters, and was really surprised how much better the drink tasted with the Angostura. It provides an extra depth and seems to bring out the best in the Amaretto. Even with all the lemon juice, this drink doesn’t need any additional sugars or syrups, keeping the taste clean and vibrant.

After adding an egg white and shaking it all up for 20 seconds or so, add some ice, and shake for another 20 seconds. Finally strain into two small glasses (or one larger one) to serve.

I like to thread a cocktail stick with blueberries and a strip of lemon zest, and pop a few extra lemon slices into the glass before serving. Nothing seems to grab people’s attention at a dinner party quite like pulling out the cocktail shaker, filling it with ice and giving it a good go—the sound and activity gets people interested and they’ll want to come near to see what you’re making. Even better, let your guests get into the action and have them do the shaking (especially if you need to make a few rounds, share the arm-workout love!) Try out this drink for your next gathering—you won’t regret it.

Recipe slightly modified from Serious Eats’ Ginger Amaretto Sour.

Amaretto Sour Drink

 

Amaretto Sour Drink
5 from 3 votes
Print

Amaretto Sour

Ginger, froth, zing—this drink brings all the flavour and fun, while being light on the alcohol taste. 

Course Drinks
Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 1 1.5" piece of peeled ginger, chopped into pieces
  • 1 3/4 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 2.5 oz Amaretto
  • 2 splashes of Angostura bitters
  • 1 egg white
  • lemon slices for garnish
  • blueberries for garnish
  • lemon zest slices, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Muddle the chopped ginger with lemon juice in cocktail shaker. Add Amaretto, bitters, and egg white. Shake well for 20 seconds. Add a handful of ice and shake for another 20 seconds. Strain into 2 glasses, popping a few lemon slices in each glass. Thread two cocktail sticks with blueberries and lemon zest, and top each glass with one of them. Serve and enjoy!

Amaretto Sour - Ginger Zing Froth

Filed Under: Drink, Recipe Tagged With: Amaretto, Blueberry, Cocktail, Drink, Froth, ginger, lemon, Sour, Zing

350-350-350 Lemon Cake Squares

July 4, 2017 By Caroline 1 Comment

Ingredients set out for lemon squares: butter, sugar, flour, eggs, lemons, berries

This post marks a big first—the cake recipe was passed on to me by my very special Grandmother-in-law, who was nick-named “Grandma Shots” by my husband. (We’ll leave the story of how that name came to be for another time 😉 ) Grandma loved this cake and told me I should learn to make it because it’s simple, quick and turns out great every time. She was so right. This is the first of her recipes I will share.

Butter on scale

Her recipe was in metric, and she told me that it was commonly known back home as the “350 cake” because the main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar) were all at equal amounts of 350 g. The cake is baked on a sheet pan, it is iced with simple lemon icing, and you cut it into squares. Whether you want a snack to take to work, something kids would enjoy or a sophisticated dessert to serve company, this cake does the trick nicely.

Baking sheet buttered and dusted with flour

The batter looks slightly curdle-y once all the eggs and sugar have blended in, but it smoothes out once you add the flour, for a very light batter.

Liquid and dry ingredients in bowls, ready to be combined

Combining liquid and dry ingredients

Spread the batter evenly over the baking sheet. It doesn’t come up very high in the pan, but it rises up quite a bit while in the oven.

batter spread evenly onto baking sheet

While that’s baking, you can whip up the icing, it couldn’t be more simple: lemon juice and icing sugar. It makes for a very thin, tangy glaze that adds a tart layer of sweetness to the top of the cake squares.

Icing sugar and lemon juice mixing in bowl

The finished squares are great cut right out of the pan. But if you wanted to turn this into an elevated dessert, read on.

A basil strawberry compote adds flavour dimension and plays well off of the lemon in the cake. It’s really easy to make—just combine a simple basil syrup with freshly cut strawberries, and roast in the oven to bring out extra depth from the strawberries.

Basil infuses flavour into sugar syrup

Beautiful Ontario strawberries with basil syrup, ready for the oven

To serve, stack the squares and top with the strawberry basil compote, letting the juices run over the sides of the cake, soaking into the bottom layer. So good, you’ll want to lick the plate after!

2 cake squares topped with strawberry basil compote, with juices soaking into the cake

 

2 cake squares topped with strawberry basil compote, with juices soaking into the cake
5 from 1 vote
Print

350-350-350 Lemon Cake Squares

A great basic cake, easily remembered by those using metric for baking based on the key ingredients: 350 g sugar, 350 g butter, 350 g flour.

Course Dessert
Servings 10

Ingredients

350-350-350 Lemon Cake Squares

  • 1 2/3 cup white sugar (350 g)
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (350 g)
  • 2 1/4 cups flour (350 g)
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 zest of 2 lemons
  • 3 tsp baking powder (14 g)

Lemon Icing

  • 1 1/2 cups Icing sugar
  • 1 Juice of one lemon

Roasted Strawberry Basil Compote

  • 1 quart Fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup Fresh Basil leaves, packed
  • 6–8 Fresh Basil stems
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup water

Instructions

350-350-350 Lemon Cake Squares

  1. Lightly butter and flour an 11 x 17" baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350°.

  2. Using a hand mixer, beat butter until lightened in colour. Add eggs one at a time, alternating with sugar. Combine flour and baking powder, gently mixing in by hand. Add lemon zest.

  3. Spread onto prepared baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Lemon Icing

  1. Make lemon icing: combine icing sugar with lemon juice, stir to combine well pressing out any lumps. Spread evenly over the lemon cake.

Roasted Strawberry Basil Compote

  1. For a special presentation, stack lemon squares and top with Roasted Strawberry Basil Compote. To make compote, combine sugar, water and basil stems into a small pan. Heat on high and bring to boil. Stir for one minute until sugar has dissolved, and remove from heat. Add basil leaves, stir to cover with the sugar syrup, cover and set aside to cool.   

  2. Hull and slice strawberries into an 8x8 glass baking dish. Once basil syrup has cooled, discard basil leaves and stems, and pour syrup over the strawberries. Place into a preheated 350° oven for 50 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice to prevent strawberries from drying out.

  3. Remove compote from oven and allow to cool completely. Top Lemon Squares with compote immediately before serving.

Recipe Notes

Cake freezes well for snacking on later.

Filed Under: Dessert, Recipe Tagged With: 350, basil, cake, Grandma Shots, lemon, metric, squares, strawberry

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Welcome to my kitchen journal, a place where I will share my favourite heritage recipes honed over the years, as well as document new evolutions and experiments along the way. Great feasts become vehicles for fond memories—the best meals are the ones someone made with love, for you. Follow me to explore traditions, document stories and experience the joy of the feast. Read More…

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