Cherry Almond Tea Cakes Recipes

TINY CHERRY AND ALMOND TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Brush mini muffin tins with butter; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is lightly browned and fragrant. Skim foam from top, and remove from heat.
• In a food processor, finely grind almonds (you should have 1 cup), and transfer to a bowl; whisk in flour, sugar, and salt to combine. Add egg whites, and whisk until smooth. Stir in kirsch. Pour in browned butter, leaving any burned sediment behind, and whisk to combine. Let batter rest 20 minutes.
• Fill each prepared cup with 1 tablespoon batter. Push a cherry into batter of each cup, keeping stem end up. With a small spoon, smooth batter over cherries to cover.
• Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted near cherries comes out clean, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes. Run a small offset spatula or knife around edges to loosen; turn out cakes onto racks to cool completely. Cakes can be stored overnight at room temperature in airtight containers.

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in the upper and lower third positions.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flours and salt. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with with paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla and almond liqueur until fully combined. Add flour mixture; beat until combined.
• Using 1 rounded teaspoon of dough per cookie, roll into balls with the palms of your hands; place onto two parchment-lined baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake, rotating halfway through, until cookies are set and just turning golden around the edges, about 16 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cookies cool slightly on baking sheets, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, add remaining 1 cup sugar to a medium bowl. When cool enough to handle, roll a few cookies at a time in the bowl of sugar to coat. Transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Roll cookies in sugar again until thoroughly coated. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

CHERRY TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat powdered sugar, butter, cherry liquid, almond extract and food color with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. On low speed, beat in flour and salt. Stir in cherries.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool 20 to 30 minutes.
• In 1-quart resealable freezer plastic bag, place baking chips; seal bag. Microwave on High 35 to 50 seconds, squeezing chips in bag every 15 seconds, until chips are melted and smooth. Cut small tip from bottom corner of bag; drizzle melted chips over cookies.

CHERRY ALMOND TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffins tins. Place mini-muffin paper liner inside each cup.
• Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it begins to sputter, reduce heat. Cook until butter has lightly browned. Skim foam from top and remove skillet from heat.
• Whisk together flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add egg whites and whisk until smooth. Stir in flavoring. Pour in butter, leaving any dark brown sediment in skillet and whisk to combine. Let stand for 20 minutes.
• Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup, filling about halfway. Push a cherry in each, keeping stem up. With a small spoon, smooth batter over cherries to cover. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and cakes are golden brown, 12-15 minutes.
• Let cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges to loosen, and unmold. Cakes can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature overnight.
• Makes 2 dozen.