Soft Almond Amaretti
The soft amaretti are delicious pastries popular in many regions of Italy, quite simple to make, they are composed of sweet and bitter almonds blended together with sugar, to which beaten egg whites and citrus zest are added.
To achieve a soft consistency, it’s important to pay attention to the cooking, which should be quick at a low temperature, so they remain soft inside and very pleasant to bite. The dough needs to rest, but with the recipe I propose today, it will suffice to keep them in the fridge for 1 hour, unlike the soft amaretti by Luca Montersino which need to rest overnight.
In the traditional recipe, you find sweet almonds and a small amount of bitter almonds. If you don’t have them and can’t find them, replace them with the same weight of sweet almonds and add an almond essence vial, you’ll still get excellent pastries.
Amaretti make a beautiful gift idea for Christmas and Easter, they keep well and can be placed in delightful little bags to include in your baskets along with canestrelli, cantucci, and gingerbread cookies.
Also try:
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 13 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Electric Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas, All Seasons
- Energy 224.49 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 26.78 (g) of which sugars 22.57 (g)
- Proteins 5.82 (g)
- Fat 12.14 (g) of which saturated 0.92 (g)of which unsaturated 10.66 (g)
- Fibers 3.07 (g)
- Sodium 11.74 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 45 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
- 8 oz almonds (sweet)
- 1 oz almonds (bitter, you can replace them with the same weight of sweet almonds adding half an almond essence vial)
- 1 cup sugar
- lemon zest (grated, use the zest of an organic lemon)
- 2 egg whites (mine weighed 70 g)
- as needed granulated sugar (for the coating)
- 13 almonds (for finishing)
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
Procedure
Grind the sweet and bitter almonds in the mixer together with the sugar until you obtain a flour, running your food processor intermittently to avoid heating the nuts and releasing their oil.
If you don’t have bitter almonds replace them with the same weight of sweet almonds adding to the mixture half an almond essence vial.
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Pour the almond flour into a bowl, add the grated lemon zest and the beaten egg whites, working the mixture gently until you get a sticky dough.
Form balls weighing 1.5 oz.
Put granulated sugar in a small bowl.
Roll the amaretti in the bowl until they are covered with sugar, insert an almond in the center, place them on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and put it in the fridge for 2 hours.
Bake the pastries in a preheated static oven at 320°F for 15/18 minutes, they should not darken but lightly brown. During the last few minutes, check them often, as each oven bakes differently, so be attentive.
Take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.
The soft almond amaretti are ready, store them in tin boxes so they don’t absorb moisture.
Advice
Storage
The soft almond amaretti keep well in tin boxes or bakery bags for 15/20 days.
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