Cherry Amaretto Cookies at the Cherry Orchard
“Madame Ranévsky has been five years abroad. I wonder what she is like now. What a fine character she is! So easy and simple. I remember when I was only fifteen my father (he used to keep a shop here in the village then) struck me in the face with his fist and my nose bled. We were out in the courtyard, and he had been drinking. ”
For such a short play, there's a lot going on in this story. There's a lot happening and a lot being said, with even more in the background and under the surface.
It starts with Madame Lyubóf Andréyevna Ranévsky returning home from France after five years. She and her brother, Leonid Andréyitch Gayef, are the joint owners of their family's cherry orchard.
While the cherries used to be made into jams and sold, they aren't any more, and the orchard has gone bankrupt. Madame Ranévsky and her brother both decide to sell it to pay the mortgage and to help them move on.
That's the big picture.
Then it breaks down into their lives, and the lives of the people that live on the estate with them.
We find out why she left the orchard for five years, who the workers are, what their lives are like... who's in a relationship with who.
What's going on in Russia in the background.
One character that shows all of this is Trophímof, who was Madame Ranévsky's son's tutor (before her son died). He's an intellectual, and he's philosophical, telling Anya, Madame Ranévsky's niece, that he doesn't love her because they are "above love" (31). He's political as well, and is more than happy to talk about his ideas and beliefs.
It's a lot. And all of the characters are losing so much.
So I really wanted to have a dessert that crumbled when you bit into it. I thought a shortbread would be fitting.
Of course, I had to use cherries, too.
And with everything the characters are going through, I thought they needed a drink. So I decided to add Amaretto, which has a cherry/ almond flavor.
Cherry Amaretto Shortbread
-3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
-2/3 c white sugar
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 tsp Amaretto
-1 tbsp maraschino cherry juice
-2 c flour
-16 maraschino cherries, diced
- Beat together the butter, vanilla, cherry juice, and Amaretto.
- Mix in the sugar.
- Slowly add the flour, making sure each measuring cup isn't packed down, and mix until the flour is completely incorporated. Towards the end, I used my hands to knead the flour into the dough... it made life easier.
- Mix in the maraschino cherries (again, I used my hands and kneaded it in).
- Take about a tablespoon- two tablespoon's worth of dough, and roll it into a ball.
- Repeat step 5 until you run out of dough.
- The balls need to be refrigerated for AT LEAST 2 hours. I prefer overnight. Before you cook the dough, you should be able to flatten it a little, but it shouldn't be overly soft.
- Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. This is all going to depend on how cold your cookies are, so you have to watch! The edges of the cookie should only just start turning golden brown when they're done. If you keep them in longer than that, the cookies will start to dry out and they'll be hard.
- Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes. If you start moving them too fast, they'll break.
Then you pour yourself a glass of Amaretto and eat all of the feelings this play has given you. Or you can just eat the dough—there's no egg in it, so it's safe.
If you're going to do that though, you might as well fold some into chocolate ice cream. They're selling their home, losing their jobs, watching the orchard get cut down, and losing their family as they all go their separate ways. Go big or go home.
You really should bake some of them though—they're incredible when they're still warm.
