Ratafias

One of the frequent debates we have at our Tasty ReadsCookbook Club is whether cookbooks should have a photo for each recipe.  Most people like something to judge their efforts against. I prefer a photo but I  am content to fly blind if required. Which is a good thing because when making these Ratafias from The Daily News Cookery Book (1953) I had no idea what I was going to end up with!

Thankfully, it was these:

But as both Julie Andrews and I are wont to say…let’s start at the very beginning. Ratafiaa are almond flavoured cookies.  If you can imagine an amaretti and a macaron had a love child? It would be a ratafia.  Not as chewy as a macaron, not as crunchy as an amaretti.

The Ratafias Recipe

A few notes about this recipe.

• It calls for soft sugar.  I used normal caster sugar in my recipe but in retrospect, I wonder if they meant icing/confectioner’s sugar.
• It also calls for Ratafia flavouring which I could not find for love or money  The closest thing I could come to was a Ratafia flavoured liqueur but they were 1) a bit spendy and 2) not readily available locally so I used almond essence.
• Finally, you can roast your rice flour for around 10 minutes in the oven, until you just see the colour start to turn.  Alternatively, if you have an Indian / Sri Lankan grocery near you, they may sell it as roasted rice flour is used to make hoppers.

The ratafias were really yummy and very easy to make.  They will defintely be on high rotation here.  Also, they are a great way to use up left over eggwhites!

Have a great week friends, sorry I have been so absent from here. It’s been a busy few months.  Hopefully I will start to be able to post more regularly now as things, particualry workwise are starting to calm down!