Biscotti Amaretti
Oh, is there anything more wonderful than biting into an ameretto biscuit? The scent and flavour of that rich bitter-sweet almond hitting your senses and mingling with those from the freshly roasted coffee that you accompany it with?
This is my version of a many varied and delightful recipe that is extremely easy and quick to make. You will never buy them again!
Note: I know I said I don’t want to put posts up until after I have cooked and photographed them, but due to a change in plans for the way my weekend was meant to pave out, I will be cooking in a foreign kitchen and will not be able to access the net beyond my phone’s capabilities until late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Thus, I will place the recipes up live now and will return to remove this message and add the photos (along with any further notes or modifications) over the weekend.
Due to an injury I sustained, photos of this recipe were not taken
Ingredients (will make ~70 biscuits)
Biscuits
- 250g Almonds (raw)
- 4 small (55g) eggs
- 100g Granulated Sugar
- 150g Brown Sugar
- 3 tsp Bitter Almond Extract
- 4 tsp Amaretto Liquore
Finish
- 200g Castor or Icing Sugar
- Whole almonds or glazed cherries (optional)
Method:
- Place Almonds in a food processor and ground into a fine paste
- Add sugar, eggs, almond extract and Amaretto Liquor and continue to process until well combined.
- In a clean bowl, place the castor sugar
- Scoop a teaspoon size amount of the dough out, and roll into a ball
- lightly dust the ball in the castor sugar and place on a baking sheet, keeping each ~2cm apart
- Place a whole almond or glazed cherry half in the centre of each biscuit.
- Place in a preheated 180*c oven for ~10 minutes, then turn off heat and wait another 5 (or sooner if golden prior to that)
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Once cool, place in airtight containers to keep for up to a fortnight.
Variations and Notes:
- Place eggs in slowly – large eggs tend to make the mix to wet.
- I have one aunt who swears egg whites only should be used. Another who argues just the yolks. I honestly have not found a difference. I will (when I finally get my Kitchenaid mixer and copper bowl) trial a mix by whipping the egg whites first and folding them into the almond mix … but until then, this recipe works just fine … and my proof of their suitability is that my lovely partner will eat these and not store bought ones.
- If using baking paper, and the biscuits seem to be sticking, turn the sheets over and lightly brush with water – this will make removal far easier.
