Learnt from Rosa’s Yum Yum’s post on Pecan Sandies that there is a worldwide cookie event called “Eat Christmas Cookies” by Susan at “Food Blogga” (USA), so I thought I can submit my amaretti too. This is already Season 2 of this event, you can see the round up so far here. The deadline is 21 December so there is still time to submit for all of you!
The chewy cookies quest has got me went on to explore how to make amaretti. Amaretti is my husband favorite, he was so happy when the first batch of the amaretti came out of the oven to be a success. I have never thought that they are so easy to make. The beauty is that I can buy the ground almond easily in Switzerland, saves a lot of time from grounding. The Swiss loves almond flavored desserts, the ground almonds was run out from Coop and I have to run to next door Migros to buy them, Migros has almost run out too so I immediately stocked up 6 packs of 100g in case I fail in my first attempt. Now that they come out so nicely, I have already received a pre-order from my in-laws to take over to Holland when we visit them over Christmas. This will keep me busy in the next days in the kitchen : )
Many thanks to Garrett McCord from Simply Recipes and ElenaC from Comida De Mama for the lovely recipes. I have adapted and combined their recipes somewhat to the following version:
Ingredients
- 300g ground almond (200g blanched & 100g non-blanched)
- 280g fine sugar (confectioners sugar)
- 3 egg whites (use large eggs)
- 1 tbsp white flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- pinch of salt
- a little of lemon juice
- 1 tsp bitter almond essence
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Powdered sugar for dusting
- butter and flour for baking paper
Make: 32-36 pieces
Method:
- Line the baking sheets on the baking trays, butter and flour them accordingly .
- If you cannot find ground almond, you will need to ground the almond (with skin removed) using a food processor. Otherwise mix the ground almond with the sugar in a bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice until you get a dense white foam.
- Gradually fold in the almond sugar mix, flour and corn starch using a spatula. Make sure there are no lumps, use a colander where necessary.
- Add in the bitter almond and vanilla essence, blend well until it is throughoutly mixed.
- You should now have a very nice almond dough. Place teaspoon size of the dough in the buttered and floured baking sheets. The doughs can be quite close together about 2cm aparts, as they will not rise much. Each amaretti will be about 5cm x 5cm. Use your finger to help shaping the amaretti a little if necessary.
- Dust the dough with powdered sugar and leave them in a cool place for 4-5 hours before baking.
- Preheat oven to 170°C, half an hour before baking.
- Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 25 mins or until subtle golden brown. This will give you crispy sides and nicely chewy in the middle. If you like them more crispy, you can add a few more minutes accordingly to your preference.
- When out of the oven, let them cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transfer them to the cooling rack.
- Serve when cooled or store them in air-tight metal cookie tins.
- Don’t forget to prepare a nice coffee or expresso to go with them.
Note. My first attempt turned out to be so good that I went to make a second batch but this time I have left them overnight and it turned out that they only need to be baked for 20 mins, and they turned to golden yellow and still soft inside so I turned them to cooling rack straight away. Alternatively, you can turn the oven to 150°C for 24 mins . It’s really a matter of adjusting between time and temperature and of course knowing your oven.