Bergamot and Amarena Cherry Blancmange – White Christmas Cooking Challenge
– recette en français à la suite

The blancmange is a very old recipe (we call it blanc-manger in French). It might be the ancestor of the pannacotta. In my 1934 edition of the famous cooking book « Je sais cuisiner » from Ginette Mathiot, it is prepared with almond milk only. I added whipped cream and replaced the gelatin with agar-agar.

Serves 4.
Preparation time: 2:30
Waiting time: 2 hours and one night

250 g blanched almonds
10 g sugar
90 g sweet honey
0.5 liter of milk
4 g agar-agar powder
20 cl very cold liquid cream
1 drop essential oil of bergamot
20 amarena cherries with juice

Crush the almonds in small pieces in a blender. Pour the almonds in a saucepan, add the milk and the sugar, bring to boil. Boil for a few minutes then remove from heat and let it infuse for 2 hours.

Filter the mixture on top of a container with a cheesecloth or a fine sieve. Press well to get all the liquid. Add a drop of essential oil and mix well.

Dissolve the agar-agar in a few teaspoons of the liquid. Add it to the mix and add the honey. Stir well to dissolve the honey.

In a saucepan, bring everything to a boil and let it simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat while you whip the cream.

Carefully add the whipped cream to the almond milk. Divide it among four silicone molds (the size of large muffins) previously rinsed but left wet.
Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, turn out onto a dessert plate, garnish with 5 amarena cherries and a crunchy hazelnut bar.

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