recipes: Alkikinger

I don't know what these are called here but I had them in Italy and I will never forget the flavor. They only happen at a certain time of year (I think it was in October?) or maybe it was now in the summertime, at any rate, I had them once and loved them! I didn't know what they were called so I had to ask my Swedish friend, who lives in Italy and she said maybe the word is German (around the world there...). They are called Alkikinger.

So when I was at the Farmers Market over the weekend I found these... a friend said that they are Cape Gooseberries, but even at the Farmers Market they were simply labeled as "lanterns" but I had a feeling that I knew what they were... they weren't as plump as the ones I had in Italy but they were delicious!

We hardly made it home without eating the whole bag! We all loved them even the kids, and when I said I was going to dip them in chocolate - we all together went... "OOooohhh!"

I simply peeled back the 'lantern' and then dipped them in chocolate... Delicious! I think they would make such a nice party treat! If I made them again for a party I would probably dip they 2-3 times. But I used a very nice, high quality dark Belgian chocolate... YUM!

(kids liked them too, but not as much as I did...)

Alkikinger