With the avocado and amaretti cookies, I have arrived at the definitive recipe for avocado cookies that I have been experimenting with in various flavors for a long time.

They are avocado shortbread cookies, an alternative shortbread to the classic one, which I like a lot and which intrigued many of you when I published the basic recipe.

In the basic recipe, I told you that I had immediately tested a chocolate version of these cookies (specifically with melted chocolate added to the dough). A test that we all liked, but despite the appreciation, my kids were a bit skeptical about this shortbread due to the green color. And also because they don’t like avocado (but yes, let’s admit a little anti-avocado prejudice? 😀). Unfortunately for me, because I enjoy it a lot and always have to limit my purchases!

I didn’t give up on this evidence (😉) and decided to diligently search for the perfect modification to ‘improve’ the recipe.

Of course, it’s not mandatory to insist on making cookies with avocado shortbread at all costs, eh, no one in the family is lactose intolerant, so luckily we can eat all kinds of shortbread, but I like to experiment, and I like the idea of being able to vary, and possibly improve recipes. And also to somehow get my kids to eat what (sometimes stubbornly) they don’t want to eat (you already know my tricks to get them to eat vegetables when they were little!).

But also, I like the idea that this recipe, this avocado shortbread, can be useful to someone, to a mom, a grandma, anyone looking for a butter-free shortbread and who doesn’t yet know about this possibility of replacing butter with avocado.

Or someone who doesn’t like avocado like my kids, but for some reason wants or needs to use it.

Now, after trying the version with chocolate chunks, the coconut version, and the peanut version, I have finally arrived at the avocado and amaretti cookies, finally labeled as ‘good mom!’ right from the first taste (because the avocado was not recognized! eh eh!). And I am very satisfied with it.

Trust me, these avocado and amaretti cookies are really really good, really really. 🙂

Last but not least: I also add at the end the version without yeast, initially made by accident (simply by forgetting to add the yeast) but which turned out to be a great possibility.

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🥑 If you like this shortbread as much as I do, and if you like avocado for other uses as well, here are my other recipes:

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Cheap
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 30Pieces
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Healthy
Seasonality: All Seasons

Ingredients

1 block shortbread with avocado instead of butter
14 amaretti
dark chocolate (in desired quantity, I used Easter egg)
peanuts (in desired quantity)
2 tablespoons grated coconut (rapè)

Tools

Bowl
Knife
Baking Pan
Baking Paper

Steps

The procedure is very simple, just make the avocado shortbread (see basic recipe) simply varying it with the addition of crumbled amaretti (lemon can be omitted if desired).
👉 I used 14 amaretti, which I consider the right amount, but you can vary.
My advice is to coarsely crumble the amaretti, even just crushing them with your hands, and add them to the mixture along with the egg and blended avocado.
Take portions of dough and form balls with your hands, optionally pressing them slightly, and place them on the baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
As shown in the photo below, these cookies are a bit thick, so after baking, they remained soft inside, though crispy outside.
To get fully crispy cookies, they can be baked at a lower temperature for a little longer (even just 5 more minutes), or preferred thinner, perhaps using a cookie cutter. They may also be left in the turned-off oven for a few minutes at the end of baking.
If finely crumbled and well incorporated into the dough, the amaretti tone down the green color of this shortbread, which is still – as can be seen from the photos – more evident before baking.
Actually, the green color is so characteristic and I like it a lot because it makes them original, but if it is a deterrent for the kids (though they are now grown-ups like mine), then it might as well be worth trying to disguise it. 😉 😀
If, however, you like green cookies, or if you don’t like amaretti, or if you are intolerant (remember that amaretti contain egg white, in some cases also butter or milk proteins, always check the ingredients listed on the package), I suggest you try the other versions I’ve tried and repeated several times over time, which I show you in the photos below.
My kids really appreciated the chocolate ones, although the green hue was noticeable. 😀
Here they are:
With chocolate (recycling Easter eggs) in desired quantity and coarsely chopped with a knife:
Here’s the inside of the cookie:
A taste, that of peanuts, which I think goes very well with the aftertaste of avocado. Again, as with the chocolate, I haven’t weighed the amount of peanuts used, I went a bit… by feel.
In these cookies, I simply added a couple tablespoons of coconut to the dough, then rolled out the shortbread, sprinkled with more coconut (about 2 tablespoons) and rolled it up. Then I sliced the roll to get cookies like pinwheels.
Not all of them came out perfectly shaped, but who cares about the shape, 🙂 they were very good! 😀
Finally, here are the greenest of all, made with the basic recipe for avocado shortbread but in a yeast-free version.
Born from a mistake (because I simply forgot to add it, not because I really wanted to make them yeast-free) but still turned out well thanks to the characteristic of this shortbread being a little softer than the traditional butter shortbread.
Anyway, despite this tendency to softness, it is still possible to obtain crispy cookies: after various trials, I can assure you that the crispiness of cookies made with this shortbread – in basic version or with added ingredients doesn’t make much difference – is played on cooking and thickness.
I recommend making various tests: try them both thin and thick, try baking them at various temperatures, from 338 to 428°F (while obviously monitoring the cooking time) to establish the best baking method for your oven, and for your taste.
I am sure you will find your favorite version just like it happened here at my home. 😋
Enjoy!
And let me know, eh! 😉