Almond "Sighs" (Sardinia)

Desserts

Ingredients

Sweet almonds - 1/2 pound

Sugar - 1 2/3 cups

Rind of 1/2 lemon

Maraschino liqueur - 5 tbsps

Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 1 minute; drain, cool and peel them. Dry them in a cool oven for about 5 minutes, taking care they do not brown. Chop them finely or grind to a powder.

Dissolve 1 cup plus 2 tbsps sugar in about 4 tbsps water with the lemon rind. Bring to a boil and cook gently for 10 minutes or until quite clear. Discard the lemon rind, add the almonds and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring well with a wooden spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and add half of the liquor, mixing it thoroughly into the syrup. Leave to cool.

Mix the remaining liquor with an equal quantity of water. Moisten your fingers with this, break off pieces of the almond sugar mixture and shape them into tiny balls. Roll them in the remaining sugar and leave to dry for 5 hours.

Cut out little squares of white or colored paper, snip the ends into fringes and wrap up the little balls like candies or sweets. They will keep for some time in an airtight container.