*This is a dish I learnt from a Milanese friend and I find it a
pleasant finish to a filling Italian meal.
Ingredients:
- 1 crisp cooking apple per person
- 1 package of amaretti cookies
- butter
- white wine
- Optional: crushed almonds (about 1/2 c)
Preheat oven to about 400 F. Wash and core apples, stopping just short of the bottom of the apple. With sharp knife, prick the apple all over in many places. Put amaretti (about 2 for every apple) into cloth and crush with rolling pin or a bottle.
Mix crushed amaretti with about 2-3 T butter (depending on quantity of cookies).
Add crushed almonds, if desired. Fill apples and sprinkle each with sugar. Place in baking dish.
Mix about 1 glass of white wine with same amount of water and pour this liquid over the apples. Place on upper most shelf of pre-heated oven and bake for about 45 min.
Remove apples to serving tray. Dip amaretti biscuits into juices remaining in baking pan and use them to cap opening of apples. In saucepan, heat juices from cooked apple pan until reduced to syrup and spoon over apples. Serve at room temperature.
An optional addition: Mix about 1 c of ricotta with same amount of mascarpone, adding sugar as needed. Dollop onto tops
of apples before serving. Sprinkle with mixture of crushed amaretti and crushed almonds.
