Amarena (sour cherry) cookies — authentic Neapolitan recipe. If you don’t know how to reuse leftover cookies and need to save some desserts, the Neapolitan amarena cookies recipe is just what you need! The amarena cookies are a typical Neapolitan sweet, like the Sfogliatella frolla or the riccia, which you can enjoy throughout the city. They are known not only for their delicate crumbly shortcrust, but also for the special filling worthy of the best chocolate desserts: made from crushed dry cookies, mixed with cocoa, hazelnuts, jam and amarena cherries in syrup. Covered with a white glaze and decorated with sour cherry jam, these little sweets are perfect any time of day, from breakfast to snack time and are a lovely zero-waste cookie recipe. There isn’t a single original Neapolitan amarena cookie recipe; since it is a recovery recipe, the filling composition varies considerably, but it’s always delicious, especially accompanied by the shortcrust and glaze. Ready to make them with me? Let’s go to the kitchen and roll up our sleeves, but before you start, remember that if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

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Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Budget-friendly
Rest time: 30 Minutes
Preparation time: 45 Minutes
Portions: 16 Pieces
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients to make amarena (sour cherry) cookies

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (00)
2/3 cup cold butter
3/4 cup powdered (confectioners') sugar
1 egg yolk
to taste lemon zest
11 oz cookies (or sponge cake) (or sponge cake)
1/2 cup sour cherry jam (amarena)
1 cup sour cherries in syrup (amarene sciroppate)
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 shot sweet white wine (Malvasia)
1 2/3 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar (for the glaze)
1 egg white
1 teaspoon lemon juice
to taste sour cherry jam (for decoration)

Tools

Baking sheet
Oven
Bowl
Blender
Whisk small
Piping bag disposable

Preparation of Neapolitan amarena cookies

To make Neapolitan amarena cookies, start with the shortcrust pastry: pour the flour onto a work surface, add the cold butter and work it until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
Create a well, add the powdered sugar,
Make another well, add the egg and work until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling by blending the leftover cookies you have in the pantry or the sponge cake. Add the jam, the sour cherries, the chopped hazelnuts, the wine and the cocoa, and blend everything together. If you use fresh sponge cake instead of dry cookies, reduce slightly the quantities of wet ingredients such as jam, cherries or wine. Pour the mixture onto the work surface, compact it and shape it.
Form a homogeneous loaf. Then roll it into a cylinder and flatten it slightly, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Take the shortcrust pastry back out, work it briefly to make it more pliable and roll it with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Place the sour cherry filling log in the center and cover it with the pastry, bringing the edges together at the center and removing any excess dough; trim any pastry without filling with a sharp knife. Turn the log so the seam is on the underside.
Prepare a glaze by whisking the powdered sugar with the egg white and lemon juice until you obtain a dense, white and fluffy glaze. Pour the glaze over the log and spread it with the back of a spoon.
Using a skewer or improvised tool, make two parallel grooves in the glaze and, with the help of a piping bag, fill the grooves with sour cherry jam (if the jam is too firm, warm it slightly). At this point, just cut cookies about 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) wide.
Arrange the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a conventional (non-fan) preheated oven at 338 °F for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and, once slightly cooled, enjoy.