In sauce pan melt butter, add almonds and cook until lightly browned. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla wafer crumbs and almond extract. Reserve 2 tbsps for topping. Fold sugar and rum into whipped cream, add crumb mixture and make sure everything is well blended without collapsing cream. Line mini-muffin tin with paper cups and spoon Tortoni mixture into cups. Sprinkle with reserved crumb topping and top with a cherry half. Place in freezer until firm and cover. Let Tortoni stand at room temperature to soften slightly before serving. Makes 12 mini-cups.