Italian Soft Amaretti Cookies

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Italian Amaretti Cookies are easy to make and utterly delicious making them hard to stop at one. With a soft interior and crisp surround, these almond-nutty cookies simply melt in your mouth. They're irresistible!

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: cookies

Calories: 127kcal

Author: Emma Duckworth

Ingredients

2 large egg whites (70g)
250 g ground almonds (almond meal)
200 g caster sugar
2 tablespoon Disaronno Almond Liqueur
120 g powdered icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
20 whole almonds optional

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180℃/350℉.
Whip egg whites. Add the egg whites to a clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip until firm peaks form. When lifted out of the whites, the foam point should stand proud off the whisk attachment.
Mix dry ingredients. Add the ground almonds and sugar to a mixing bowl and mix together.
Add Disaronno and egg whites and mix in. This needs to be done in two stages to incorporate the egg whites well. Add half the egg whites, and the almond liquor to the bowl of ground almonds, and using a rubber spatula mix in. The mixture will look like wet sand
Then add the remaining egg whites and mix in well. I use the rubber spatula to press and scrap the mixture together. The cookie dough will look loose but when squeezed together it should form a ball
Scoop dough into balls. I use a small cookie scoop for pure ease. It makes this process so quick. Scoop the dough with the cookie scoop onto a lined baking tray leaving an inch between them. Alternatively, scoop out a heaped tablespoon worth and roll between the palm of your hands into a ball
Dust each ball in icing sugar. This is an optional extra that you ultimately don't need to do but it gives the cookies a lovely appearance once baked. Roll each ball in the icing sugar and place it back on the baking tray. Repeat until all cookies are coated. Flatten the tops with the palm of your hand ever so slightly.
Option: Press one almond into the top of each cookie.
Bake. Place the tray in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. The cookies will puff up slightly and crack on the outside. Leave the cookies to cool and enjoy!!

Notes

Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

To store: Store these cookies at room temperature in an air-tight box. They'll last up to two weeks and the flavour intensifies throughout that time!

To freeze: Once fully cooled, freeze Amaretti cookies on a baking sheet for a couple of hours. Once frozen, stack in an air-tight container or freezer bag. Thaw overnight at room temperature.

Tip 1: Whip the egg whites to firm peaks. If the whites are whipped enough then the cookies will be flat in appearance. There needs to be enough air in the egg whites to puff up in the oven.

Tip 2: Use ground almonds rather than almond flour. This helps add moisture and texture to the cookies

Tip 3: Don't overbake. The secret to getting the chewy texture is to bake them just long enough for the heat to puff up the egg whites and heat through whilst baking the outside enough for it to set and crisper up.

Nutrition