[2] Spring peas, also called English peas and green peas (photo © R.Khalil | Pexels).

[3] Edamame, immature soybeans that are boiled or steamed (photo © Burpee).

[4] Savoy cabbage, the most elegant-looking of the cabbage varieties. It is named after the Savoy Region in France (photo © Monika Grabowska | Unsplash).

[5] Recipe #2, a tartine (open face sandwich) with spring peas and other spring ingredients from Chef Alain Ducasse (photo © All My Chefs).

[6] Fresh asparagus for the tartine, recipe #2 (photo © Baldor Specialty Food).

[7]

[8] Baby arugula for the tartine (photo Baldor Specialty Food | Facebook).

[9] If you can find a box of mixed-color cherry tomatoes, it will give your tartine that much more appeal (photo © Love Food Art | Pexels).

[10] Recipe #3: burrata salad—note that you can’t eat the shells of spring peas (photo © The Gourmet RD).

At breakfast—the meal least likely to include spring peas—you can use them to garnish eggs, avocado toast, or a bagel with cream cheese.

You can toss raw or cooked peas into plain Greek yogurt. Use them as a garnish, or mash them and stir them in as you would with preserves.

Moving on to snacks and appetizers: Here are three tasty recipes for appetizers, first courses, or snacking. For a special main course, check out this innovative approach to surf and turf: Squid With Bacon & Spring Peas.

The recipe for Spring Pea Or Edamame Potstickers follows.

The recipe for Spring Tartine is below.

The third recipe is below

> Here are more ways to use spring peas, and the history of peas.
 
 
RECIPE #1: SPRING PEA OR EDAMAME POTSTICKERS

Hannah Kaminsky adapted her easy edamame potstickers recipe (photo #1) to showcase spring peas. She mixes the legumes with hummus for extra protein, although you can skip the hummus and just fill the dumplings with peas).

Hannah notes:

“General folding advice still stands as a good guideline to follow when wrapping things up, but once you get those papery thin skins to stick, you’re pretty much golden.

If you’re less confident in your dumpling prowess, cut yourself a break and fold square dumpling wrappers in half instead. You’ll still get neat little triangles.”

If celebrate Purim, you can serve these as savory Haman’s Hats.

Ingredients For 15 Dumplings

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. SET UP the steaming apparatus: Line a bamboo steamer or metal steam rack with leaves of savoy cabbage to prevent the dumplings from sticking to the bottom (and eat it afterward). Place the steamer in a large pot with water and heat the water to boiling; then reduce to simmer. Meanwhile…

2. MIX together the shelled edamame, hummus, scallion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cumin, stirring thoroughly. Lay the dumpling wrappers on your work surface and place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each. Run a lightly moistened finger around the entire perimeter and bring the sides together, forming a triangle. Tightly crimp the corners together with a firm pinch.

3. PLACE the dumplings on the cabbage leaves and cover the steamer or pot. Steam for 2 to 4 minutes, until the wrappers are translucent. Serve immediately, with additional soy sauce for dipping if desired.

________________

*You can typically find these either in the produce section near the tofu, or in the freezer aisle with other Asian ingredients.
________________

 
 
RECIPE #2: SPRING TARTINE

This recipe, courtesy of All My Chefs, is from the great Alain Ducasse.

It requires no particular cooking technique…or even cooking, except for blanching the asparagus and green beans. Otherwise, you just slice and assemble.

Serve them as a snack, a first course, or with a glass of wine.

Here’s more about tartines, French for open-face sandwiches.

This recipe was originally published in “Nature By Alain Ducasse” (Éditions Alain Ducasse).

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. BRING a saucepan of salted water to a boil, and prepare a bowl with water and ice cubes.

2. CUT the tips of the asparagus into approximately 2-inch (5-6 cm) pieces. Rinse and immerse in the boiling water with the peas.

3. DRAIN and immediately plunge them into the ice water to keep their color. Leave for 2 minutes, then drain with a slotted spoon and lay on a dry tea towel. (TIP: We put the vegetables into a strainer. It’s easy to lift the strainer to drain, then plunge it into the ice bath.)

4. SLICE thee radishes into fine rounds (about 3 mm) with a mandoline (we used a knife). Slice the fennel into thin slivers of the same size.

5. ASSEMBLE: Spread the bread with cream cheese and arrange the vegetables on top. Sprinkle with parmesan, a bit of crunchy salt and some pepper.

________________

**Saint-Môret is the leading natural fresh cheese in France. While it has a different flavor and texture from American cream cheese, it is the closest comparison. We actually used spreadable goat cheese: We love the extra tang.
________________
 
 
RECIPE #3: SPRING PEAS & BURRATA SALAD

We adapted this recipe from Julie Andrews, The Gourmet RD. It takes just 10 minutes to prep. We could eat it every day.

Her recipe uses sugar snap peas. We added spring peas as well.

You can eat the pods (shells) of sugar snap peas, but it depends on the age of the pea. Older sugar snap peas tend to be more fibrous, making the pod hard to chew. Eat one, then decide.

Unlike sugar snap peas or snow peas, the fibrous pods of English peas cannot be eaten—although they can be saved and used in a vegetable stock (freeze until needed).

TIPS:

 
Ingredients For 4 First Courses

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together fresh lemon zest and juice, honey, olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning, as necessary.

2. ADD the peas, green beans, carrots, arugula, basil, and mint to the bowl, and toss with the dressing.

3. QUARTER or halve the ball of burrata and arrange it on a platter. Top with salad, sprinkle with additional coarse salt and ground black pepper, and garnish with pistachios.
 
 
MORE BURRATA

> More burrata salad recipes.

> Dessert burrata recipe.

> The history of burrata.

[2] A liqueur glass with the amber liqueur (photo via Angela Bax | Pinterest via Flickr.

[3] Domenico Reina’s store in Saronno.

[4] Bottles of Disaronno from 1900.

You may find it hard to believe that one of the top liqueurs in the world (see the list below) was not imported into the U.S. until the 1960s.

The almond-flavored cordial quickly became a hit in the U.S., in cocktails and food preparation. By the 1980s, it was second in sales only to Kahlùa. (Today, the top liqueurs are Baileys Irish Cream and Malibu Caribbean Rum.)

(What’s the difference between a cordial, a liqueur and an eau de vie? Here’s the answer.

In Italian, amaro means bitter. Amaretto means a little bitter.

Why is this sweet, almond liqueur called bitter?

Surprisingly, no almonds are used to make most brands of amaretto. Rather, the marzipan-like flavor is achieved through apricot kernel oil, burnt sugar and a variety of spices.

Various commercial brands—but not the top two which “own” the market—are made from a base of apricot pits or peach pits (the source of the oil), almonds, or a combination.

Most likely, when it was first made, amaretto wasn’t as sweet as it is today. Older recipes use the bitter almond (mandorla amara) local to Saronno, Italy, which give the liqueur its name.

In Italy, almonds are grown in two basic varieties, sweet and bitter (mandorla).
 
 
WHO INVENTED AMARETTO?

Before the names DiSaronno or Lazzaroni ever appeared on a bottle, the amaretto legend was born.

In the Renaissance and earlier, many families would distill their own liqueurs and digestifs.

According to their history, here’s the scoop:

In 1525, the artist Bernardino Luini, a former pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, was commissioned by the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie in the city of Saronno, in northern Italy near the Swiss border, in the region of Lombardy.

He painted a fresco of the the Adoration of the Magi (photo #5) in the sanctuary, which included the Madonna of the Miracles (photo #6). The fresco can still be seen today).

As the model for the Madonna, Luini hired a young widow, an innkeeper. As a gift, she gave him a flask full of an amber liqueur she made by steeping apricot kernels in brandy.

Her name is lost to history, but her likeness and her amaretto recipe live on.

Perhaps she was a member of the Reina family; for somehow, in 1600, Giovanni Reina (who had worked for the Lazzaroni amaretto cookie business) discovered the innkeeper’s old recipe. He made the liqueur, and the “secret” recipe passed from one generation to the next.

20th Century Amaretto Di Saronno

At the beginning of the 20th century, Domenico Reina decided to open a store in Saronno to sell food items, including the family liqueur, which he sold as Amaretto di Saronno Originale (Original Amaretto from Saronno, photo #4). The store was called Domenico Reina Coloniali (Domenico Reina’s Grocery—photo #3).

By 1940, liqueur production had grown into a large artisanal business. In 1947 was incorporated as ILLVA SARONNO. ILLVA is an acronym for Industria, Lombarda, Liquori, Vini & Affini (Industry, Lombarda, Spirits, Wines & Allied Products).

The product was called Amaretto di Saronno (Amaretto from Saronno), before returning to the latter part of the original name, Disaronno Originale, in 2001. It is still produced in Saronno, and sold worldwide (source).

It should be noted that Paolo Lazzaroni & Figli S.p.A., makers of Amaretti di Saronno cookies, claims that the Lazzaroni family created amaretto, in 1851.

That may be so, but their recipes are quite different. Disaronno’s is made from apricot kernel oil with “absolute alcohol, burnt sugar, and the pure essence of seventeen selected herbs and fruits” (i.e., no almonds or other nuts).

Lazzaroni’s amaretto contains their Amaretti di Saronno almond cookies, infused in alcohol (source).

Most people—including American producers and importers—use these terms interchangeably. But there are differences:
 
 
BRANDY, CORDIAL, EAU DE VIE, LIQUEUR & SCHNAPS:
THE DIFFERENCE

[6] A detail of the Madonna.

The distillation of alcohol may have taken place as early as 200 C.E., possibly by alchemists trying to make gold (alembic still history).
The Russian term zhiznennia voda, which was distilled down (that’s a pun) into “vodka,” also means water of life (the literal translation of vodka is “little water”).

The Gaelic uisce beatha, pronounced ISH-ka BYA-ha, too, means “water of life.” The pronunciation evolved into the more familiar term, whiskey.
 
 
APÉRITIF & DIGESTIF

How about an apéritif (French) or an aperitivo (Italian)?

These don’t refer to the contents of a drink; but rather, to the timing. They are a range of alcoholic beverages that are drunk to stimulate the appetite.

Traditional choices for an apéritif are champagne; gin; anise-flavored liqueurs (arak, pastis, raki and others); dry white wine (a light style); sherry (amontillado, fino or dry sherry; and vermouth (a fortified white wine).

At the opposite end, a digestif is an after-dinner drink to help with digestion. These include amaros, fortified wines, brandies and herbal liqueurs.
 
 
To conclude, here’s the difference between liquor and liqueur.
 
 
THE TOP 10 LIQUEURS

According to The Spirit Business, the top-selling liqueur brands in the world are:

1. Baileys Irish Cream (whiskey flavored)
2. Malibu (rum and coconut flavored)
3. De Kuyper (assorted flavors)
4. Lubelska (vodka-based liqueur)
5. Southern Comfort (whiskey flavored)
6. Kahlúa (coffee flavored)
7. Amarula (amarula fruit flavored*)
8. Disaronno Amaretto (almond flavored)
9. Zoladkowa Gorzka (vodka-based liqueur, black cherry flavor)
10. Cointreau (orange flavored)
________________

*The African fruit from which this is made has been described as tasting like chocolate-covered strawberries. It is a favorite of elephants.

[2] Homemade amaretto. Here’s the recipe from Mantitlement (photo © Mantitlement).

[3] Amaretto preserves (photo © Tell Tale Preserve Co. | Facebook).

[4] Pour amaretto into your coffee, or serve it as a chaser (photo © Door Country Coffee).

[5] Shrimp in an amaretto marinade (photo © Kansas City Steak Company).

[6] Rosie’s Famous Amaretto Brownies from King Arthur Baking. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[6] Amaretto cheesecake. Here’s the recipe. Certainly, serve it with a snifter of amaretto (photo © Bake Or Break).

April 19th is National Amaretto Day, in honor of an almond-flavored liqueur initially made with local bitter almonds in the area of Saronno, Italy.

Here’s the history of amaretto, which dates to before 1525.

Amaretto is Italian for “a little bitter,” which it may have been back then. Today, it is sweet—and often made from apricot pits, which taste like almond and are a whole lot less expensive.

But what to do with that bottle of amaretto?

Gone are the days when a glass of liqueur would be a sweet ending to dinner. Has anyone had an after-dinner liqueur at home since, say, the 1970s?

Don’t let the bottle of amaretto gather dust on a closet shelf. Today’s tip is: Take that bottle down and put it to good use!

> Below: a recipe for amaretto brownies.
 
 
1. Revive the custom of the after dinner drink.

Drink your dessert instead of eating something sweet.

You don’t need to buy delicate, stemmed liqueur glasses: Rocks glaasses, even shot glasses, will do just fine.

We use miniature brandy snifters.
 
 
2. Bring out the bottle with after-dinner coffee…

…or brunch coffee…or coffee at any respectable time of day.

We have long followed our Nana’s custom of bringing a silver tray with four liqueur bottles (amaretto, anisette, Courvoisier, crème de cacao) and small cream pitchers to the table with coffee.

Why the little pitchers? Nana was far too elegant to pour liqueur from a bottle into a coffee cup. It was poured from the bottle into the pitcher, and then into the cup.

Why didn’t she serve the amaretto as a chaser in her crystal liqueur glasses? Alas, it’s too late to ask.

But anyone who enjoys a shot of flavored syrup in their cup of coffee will appreciate the even greater depth of favor from a sweet liqueur—mixed in or served separately.
 
 
3. Make cocktails.

You can even throw a cocktail party with a menu of amaretto cocktails: Almond Joy, Amaretto Alexander, Amaretto and Coke, Amaretto Sour, Italian Sunset and others.

Here are “the 10 best amaretto cocktail recipes.”

Everything old is new again.

And for dessert: a DiSaronno Milkshake, which is just as it sounds: amaretto and vanilla ice cream, tossed into the blender.
 
 
MORE WAYS TO USE AMARETTO

We have almost 40 different ways to use amaretto.

While the biggest opportunity comes in adding a tablespoon or two to sweet foods, there are also savory uses.
 
 
Amaretto In Desserts

 
 
Amaretto In Beverages

 
 
More Amaretto Uses

Give it away. Our Dad, who didn’t drink alcohol, had four bottles in his closet—and didn’t understand the concept of re-gifting.

Tie a bow around the neck; and if you feel you need to buy something, add some liqueur glasses.
 
 
Not enough amaretto?

Make your own with this recipe.

Ingredients For About 4 Dozen Small Squares

For The Brownies

 
For The Amaretto Frosting

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Anything baked tastes good with amaretto. [1] Amaretto brownies (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour). [2] Amaretto pound cake with amaretto glaze (photo courtesy The Baker Chick).

3. ADD the flour, salt and espresso powder, beating gently until thoroughly combined. Spread the batter into the pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

4. MAKE the frosting. Combine the butter and chocolate in bowl, stirring until smooth. Add the sifted confectioner’s sugar alternately with the milk, beating on medium speed. Stir in the amaretto and espresso powder.
5. SPREAD the icing on the cooled brownies. Garnish with almonds. Cover and refrigerate the brownies for at least 1 hour before serving; this will help the icing set, and make cutting a lot less messy.

6. CUT the brownies in small squares to serve. Cover any leftovers, and store at cool room temperature. If it’s warm in your house, you can wrap them airtight and store in the fridge for a day or so; or freeze for longer storage.
 

Spirit animals await you, in chai, lemon and vanilla. Photos courtesy Good Zebra.

Good Zebra calls their animal crackers “spirit animal crackers.” That’s because their four varieties represent different spirit animals.

You can take the quiz to find your spirit animal—a totem representing you in the animal kingdom.

A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol of a tribe, clan, family or individual.

Native American tradition provides that each individual is connected with nine different animals that will accompany each person through life, acting as guides.

Cultures around the world consider their spirit animal to be an otherworldly guide, who appears during difficult times to offer love, healing and/or support.

It generally takes the form of an animal with which a person (or a clan) shares a certain set of characteristics, and thus a kinship.

The animal acts as a guide and protector for humans. In death, the humans’ spirits are absorbed into the animal. (Here’s more from The Atlantic.)

You don’t have to pursue your spirit animal in order to enjoy Good Zebra animal crackers, however.

We call Good Zebra gourmet animal crackers, because the sophisticated flavors taste so good—in chai, lemon and vanilla.

There are 11 different animal shapes*, inspired by original tattoo art, “each with a soul-touching message to enlighten, uplift and empower,” according to the producers.

Each 2-ounce resealable bag contains approximately 20 animal crackers, delivering 12 grams of protein.

The crackers are all natural, nothing processed or refined (they’re sweetened with honey and coconut sugar). Made with 70% organic ingredients, they’re certified kosher by OU.

You can buy 12 packages for $28 or four packages for $17.

Get yours at Good-Zebra.com.

If you’d prefer to bake your own animal crackers, here’s a recipe.

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*We identified a butterfly, deer, fox, grizzly bear, kestrel, owl, peacock, turtle, unicorn, wolf, and of course, zebra. There is a Native American zodiac with additional animal symbols.
  

You’re never too adult to enjoy animal crackers..and since your palate is likely much evolved since childhood, to taste the superiority of homemade versions.

Any adult will smile at a plate of cookie nostalgia with a cup of coffee or tea (and listen to six-year-old Shirley Temple sing “Animal Crackers In My Soup”).

The standard-bearer, Barnum’s Animal Crackers, has far less sugar than other cookies. In fact, they’re barely sweet enough to be called a cookie.

So why are they called crackers?

Because they are made with a layered dough like crackers.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF ANIMAL CRACKERS

Animal crackers originated in Britain in 1889, capitalizing on the time when P.T. Barnum toured there with his circus. The first boxes were labeled Barnum’s Animals (presumably by license).

In the U.K. they were called animal biscuits, biscuits being the British word for cookies.

The crackers were exported to the U.S. When American manufacturers made their own versions, they changed the word biscuit to cracker instead of cookie (we opine, because consumers would expect cookies to be sweeter).

There had been earlier animal crackers in the U.S. In 1883, when the earliest known recipe for “animals” was printed in Secretes of the Bakers and Confectioners’ Trade, written by J.D. Hounihan.

Prior to Nabisco, at least two companies, Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company and the Holmes and Coutts Company, had been making them [source].

But the National Biscuit Company won the day with their bright red and yellow “circus car” box, introduced during the holiday season of 1902 with a string attached to hang the box from the Christmas tree.

Today, brands like Annie’s and Best Choice call their products animal cookies…and add more sugar to the recipe.

> Here’s more of the history of animal crackers.

The following recipe, from King Arthur Flour, uses small (2” to 2¼”) spring-loaded plunger cutters. You can buy a set of four for $9.95: elephant, giraffe, lion and zebra. You plunge down, then pop the dough right out.

If you don’t want to buy the cutters, use whatever animal cookie cutters you have—even large ones.

Also check out these 3-D animal crackers.
 
 
RECIPE: ANIMAL COOKIES

This recipe, from King Arthur Flour, makes sweet, buttery cookies. It uses Princess Cake & Cookie Flavor, an extract that combines vanilla and lemon and emulates the flavor profile and aroma of Barnum’s Animal Crackers.

If you don’t want to purchase a bottle, you can substitute: only vanilla extract, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, almond extract, anise extract, or another flavor of choice.

Another idea: Some brands add nutmeg or cinnamon.

Prep time is 15 to 20 minutes; bake time is 8 to 10 minutes per sheet.

Ingredients For About 5 Dozen Cookies

 
Preparation

1. BEAT together the butter, sugar, honey, salt, baking soda, and flavor until well combined. Add the flour and oat flour, mixing to combine.

2. DIVIDE the dough in half, flattening each half slightly to make a disk; then wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

[2] Make your own with these little plunger cookie cutters.

[3] Here’s a vegan recipe (photo © Desserts With Benefits).

[4] Instead of ants on a log, here are animal crackers on a log (photo © All Services U.S.).

[5] This recipe opted for home and farm animals—cat, dog, duck, owl, pig, rabbit—rather than wild ones (photo © Crafty Baking).

4. TAKE one piece of dough from the refrigerator and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough 1/4″ thick.

5. DIP the animal cookie cutters in flour (each time you cut), then use them to cut the dough. Using the cutters may take a little practice, not to mention patience in making so many small cookies. Press the cutter down by the outside edges first, then use the plunger to emboss before picking up; and push the plunger again to release the cookie over the baking sheet.

6. TRANSFER the cookies to the prepared baking sheets and freeze for 15 minutes. This helps the cookies retain their shape and imprint.

7. BAKE the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges (do not let the cookies brown). Remove the cookies from the oven, and let them cool on the baking sheet for several minutes, or until set. Then transfer the cookies on parchment to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.