Ingredients:
4 ounces mascarpone, 1-2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon maraschino
liqueur or kirsh, Unsalted butter, 16 small rounds fo bread,
1/2-inch thick, cut from a narrow baguette-style loaf, or 16
small rounds of brioche, Sugar for crostini, and 1/2-3/4 cup
drained, pitted brandied cherries, about 32 to 48.These dainty little morsels are amazingly simple to prepare and taste absolutely extraordinary.
Mascarpone is sugared and spiked with clear cherry maraschino liqueur, spread on warm crostini, then topped with brandies cherries. With each bite the cherries release their juices, merge with mascarpone, and soak into the bread.
Please don't even think of using artificially colored maraschino cherries, sold in jars for mixed drink; they bear no relationship to real marinated cherries and are completely inappropriate fo this dish! Either make your own or purchase from a specialty food shop.
In a small bowl, combine the mascarpone, sugar, and liqueur. Stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Lighly butter and sugar the bread rounds and arrange on a baking sheet. Toast the crostini at 400° until they are crisp on the outside but soft inside. Remove the mascarpone cream from the refrigerator. Spread the cream on the crostini. Top each bread round with 2 or 3 cherries. Serve soon after assembling them.
Makes 16 crostini.