Amaretti
Amaretti are traditional Italian almond cookies made only from almond flour, sugar and egg whites, with no wheat flour at all. This soft version has a crackled shell dusted snowy white with powdered sugar, while the inside is chewy, moist and intensely almondy with a pleasant, faintly bitter finish.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 18 min
- Rising or chilling
- 30 min
- Total time
- 1 hr 8 min
- Method
- Oven-baked
Ingredients
Almond dough
Powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
Step 1
Heat the oven to 165°C, set a rack in the middle and line two baking trays with parchment paper. A moderately low temperature lets the shells crack beautifully while the insides stay chewy. The oven is ready after about fifteen minutes of preheating.
Step 2
Put 250 g almond flour, 225 g granulated sugar, a pinch salt and 2 g lemon zest in a large bowl and whisk until loose. This breaks up any clumps the almonds' natural oil has formed in the flour. The mixture is ready when it is light, fine as sand and completely lump-free.
Step 3
Beat 70 g egg whites in a clean bowl on medium speed for about two minutes, adding 3 g almond extract at the end. The whites only need soft peaks so the cookies rise slightly and stay chewy inside. Stop when the whites are opaque white and form soft peaks that droop when you lift the beaters.
Step 4
Pour the whites into the almond mixture and press and stir with a flat spatula until the dry ingredients have absorbed all the liquid. Amaretti dough is very thick and sticky, and thorough mixing dissolves the sugar evenly so the shells crack finely. The dough is ready when it is as pliable as marzipan and a test ball holds its shape.
Step 5
Dampen your hands, roll the dough into balls the size of large grapes, roll each one in 40 g powdered sugar until thickly coated and arrange them on the trays about three centimeters apart. The thick sugar coating cracks as the cookies rise, creating their signature white crackle. The balls are ready when they are evenly round and fully coated in white with no bare spots.
Step 6
Let the shaped cookies rest at room temperature for about thirty minutes before baking. This lets the surface dry slightly so the shells crack into pretty patches in the oven instead of spreading flat. You know they are ready when the outside feels a little dry to a light touch.
Step 7
Bake at 165°C for 15 to 18 minutes, swapping the top and bottom trays at the ten-minute mark if you are baking two at once. Baked just right, the cookies have a thin crisp shell and a chewy center. They are done when the tops are clearly cracked, the bottoms are turning pale golden and the sugar on top is still white.
Step 8
Let the cookies cool on the tray for about fifteen minutes before lifting them off the parchment. Fresh-from-the-oven amaretti are very soft and sticky, but they firm up enough to handle as they cool. They are ready when the bottoms peel away from the paper easily.
Equipment
- Oven
- Hand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula
- Kitchen scale
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Wire cooling rack
Tips
- Blanched almond flour gives the cookies a lovely ivory color, while flour made from unpeeled almonds gives a deeper flavor and darker color.
- You can press a whole almond or a candied cherry onto each cookie before baking.
- These cookies are naturally gluten-free, as long as you check the labels on your almond flour and extract carefully.
Storage
Keep amaretti in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week, and they will stay chewy inside. You can also freeze them for up to two months and thaw them at room temperature for about thirty minutes.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The cookies spread flat with no cracks.
- The dough was too wet or the balls did not rest long enough to dry on the surface. Use a little less egg white, roll the balls in a thicker sugar coating and let them rest the full thirty minutes.
- The cookies are hard and crunchy all the way through.
- They were baked too long or the balls were too small. Take them out as soon as the bottoms turn pale golden and keep the balls a consistent size.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
