The soft lemon and almond amaretti are delicious pastries that are very easy to make, consisting of finely ground almonds, sugar, egg whites, and lemon.
Last year, I created other delicious variations. Besides the classic recipe, I made almond and coconut amaretti and almond, pistachio, and orange amaretti, two recipes you greatly appreciated, even though they differ significantly from the original; today, I have made the lemon version.
Making them is very simple and, unlike the almond pastes, they do not need to rest for 12 hours in the fridge. Resting becomes necessary only if you exceed the amount of egg white; in this case, they need to remain at room temperature to dry externally and not deform during baking.
After preparing the dough, form the balls, let them rest in the fridge for 1 hour, and then bake them. To have a soft amaretto, pay attention to the baking, which should be done at a low temperature. This way, you will have a delicious outer crust and a tasty soft center, a truly special pastry!
Here are other recipes to try:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 13 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 202.30 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 20.98 (g) of which sugars 19.62 (g)
- Proteins 4.04 (g)
- Fat 11.53 (g) of which saturated 0.14 (g)of which unsaturated 1.65 (g)
- Fibers 2.69 (g)
- Sodium 14.56 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 2 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 0.7 oz almonds (bitter, you can replace them with the same weight of sweet almonds adding half a vial of almond essence)
- 1 cup sugar
- lemon zest (grated, you need the zest of one organic lemon)
- 2 oz egg whites (2 whites from medium eggs)
- 0.4 oz lemon juice
- to taste powdered vanilla sugar
- 13 almonds
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Food Processor to grind the almonds
- 1 Baking Tray
- Parchment Paper
Procedure
Grind the sweet and bitter almonds in a food processor with the sugar until you get a very fine flour. Pulse the food processor to prevent the nuts from heating up and releasing their oil.
If you don’t have bitter almonds, replace them with the same weight of sweet almonds, adding half a vial of almond essence to the mixture.
Pour the almond flour, grated lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg whites into a bowl, working the mixture gently until you obtain a slightly sticky dough.
Form balls of 1.4 oz (you can make smaller amaretti of 0.7 oz or 1 oz, but they will require less baking time).
Put some powdered vanilla sugar in a small bowl. Roll the amaretti in the bowl until they are covered in sugar, insert an almond in the center, place them on the baking tray lined with parchment paper, and put them in the fridge for 1 hour.
Bake the pastries in a preheated static oven at 320°F for 18 minutes; they should not darken but only slightly brown. In the last few minutes, keep a close watch, as every oven bakes differently, so pay attention.
Take them out of the oven and let them cool completely before moving them.
The soft lemon and almond amaretti are ready; store them in tin boxes or containers with airtight lids.
Tips
Storage
The soft lemon and almond amaretti can be stored in tin boxes or food-safe pastry bags for 10 days.
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