Chewy Amaretti
 
 
I couldn't source almond meal so used almond "flour" and added finely chopped roasted, lightly salted almonds to create texture and help the cookies hold their loft.
Author:
Ingredients
  • 3 organic eggs whites, room temperature
  • 280g ground almond meal (mine was called almond flour) made from: 1 handful roasted lightly salted almonds chopped into tiny chunks plus enough almond flour to make up a total of 280g
  • 280g fine berry or caster sugar
  • zest from 1 small organic lemon
  • 1fl oz Amaretto liquor: I needed less than 1/2 ounce to create the right consistency
  • Optional:
  • 2 tbsp berry sugar
  • 2 tbsp powdered confectioner's sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
  2. Line two baking cookie sheets with baking parchment.
  3. Finely dice the handful of roasted, lightly salted almonds, add to a bowl then add enough almond flour until you have 280g of almond meal total.
  4. In another bowl, measure out the berry sugar and add the lemon zest, stir to blend.
  5. Using a mixer, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, do not over beat or the egg whites will separate and go runny, if you get to this stage start over until you only have stiff, creamy whipped egg whites.
  6. Gently fold in the ground almonds, caster sugar/lemon mixture.
  7. Slowly stir in the amaretto liquor, adding just enough so that the mixture is sticky and holds together. I only needed less than half an ounce.
  8. If you wish to roll your cookies in sugar, measure the fine berry sugar and icing sugar into a small bowl and mix to blend.
  9. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out a rounded mound of dough. If you are coating, drop into the sugar mixture and roll gently to coat.
  10. Place amaretti gently on parchment covered cookie sheet, allowing a little room to spread (I didn't find these spread at all).
  11. Bake for 15 minutes and check to see if the cookies have browned. *if you don't coat in sugar as I did, it will take much longer to get the outside of the cookie browned. I had to almost double the baking time. If you do coat in sugar this may go much quicker. Either way, the centers of the cookies will still remain soft and chewy due to the egg whites.
  12. Remove the oven, leave to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet.
  13. If you like your cookies chewy, don't serve them warm, allow them to cool completely before serving.
  14. Store in a sealed container for a few days or freeze. Once frozen, remove from container and bring to room temperature.
Recipe by Just a Smidgen at https://justasmidgen.com/2017/04/25/homemade-chewy-amaretti-cookies/