MAMMA MIA! THAT'S A SEMIFREDDO! RECIPE - ITALIAN.FOOD.COM

Mamma Mia! That's a Semifreddo! Recipe - Italian.Food.com image

Provided by @MakeItYours

Number Of Ingredients 11

1/2 cup butter
1 egg, well beaten
1/3 cup finely chopped blanched almond
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons almond extract or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Amaretto
1/2 cup chopped pistachios or 1/2 cup almonds
1 pint vanilla gelato

Steps:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the well beaten egg, blanched almonds, sugar, extract, spices and flour. Mix until the mixture is well combined.
On a lightly floured surface roll the almond cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut with round cookie cutters dipped in flour. Place the almond cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake the almond cookies at 325 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Meanwhile, toast the additional chopped nuts in a nonstick pan over medium heat.
When the cookies come out of the oven, spritz or drizzle hot cookies with Amaretto, then allow cookies and nuts to completely cool. Completely. Really. Keep your mitts off of them! :) (This is where the extra 20 minutes of no-work time comes from.).
Pour the toasted, chopped nuts onto a plate. Then take one cookie and spread a scoop of gelato (about 1/8 cup, although you can certainly use more if you would like!) onto it and top with another cookie. Roll the sandwich in the toasted nuts so that they stick to the exposed gelato on the edge.
You can eat these right away, or place in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap, for a yummy treat later. The serving size is entirely dependent on the size you cut your cookies. Remember to cut two for each sandwich.