Amaretti cookies
August 6, 2012 
6 Comments
Amaretti cookies are essentially Italy’s answer to macarons. Their name is derived from the diminutive form of “amaro” (bitter), because they’re traditionally flavoured with bitter almonds (and currently with almond extract). Unlike macarons, which are usually sandwiched, amaretti are mostly served solo.
They’re also baked to a crunchier texture, and can be crumbled and used as a component in other dishes. I’ve seen recipes for squash ravioli and gnocchi that use amaretti as a binder in place of breadcrumbs, or to soak up liquid in the bottom of peach pies. There’s also a common dessert that involves peach halves stuffed with a mixture of amaretti crumbs, egg yolks, sugar and butter, then baked.
I made the amaretti pictured above using the recipe in A16 Food + Wine. I was surprised that it called for raw, not blanched, almonds, but the skins give the cookies a rustic, speckled appearance. I’ve been munching on a few of them, but I’ve got some other plans for them soon.
Perhaps they’re the macarons grandparent, in lieu of the answer, since macarons are supposed to come from Florence…
Great looking amaretti! By the way…
Good point, Roberto: I assume macarons are the descendant of amaretti, but I don’t think I have any documentary evidence to that effect, and I’m no culinary historian. Either way, they’re delicious!
If you can get any Italian friends to smuggle in some bitter almonds, do so immediately. Though most almond extract is made from the bitter almond, the flavor cannot parallel the real deal (at least according to a blind tasting panel of my friends). I suppose it could have to do with the flavor release from the ground almond being more gradual, or perhaps something is lost in the extraction into alcohol. Either way, the main problem is that you quickly run out of bitter almonds and have no convenient way to get more.
So perhaps they are best left untasted…..
I’m not surprised to hear that the flavour of real bitter almonds is more complex, if for no other reason than extract being the purified form of benzaldehyde, with none of the other stuff that comes in a natural package. I would certainly be interested in tasting them sometime, despite the whole cyanogenic glycoside thing…
Matthew, you can substitute bitter almonds with apricot kernels. You can even consider them as a free bonus when buying apricots…
Amaretto di Saronno liqueur is made out of apricot kernels. You can mix three o four kernels with the supposed weight of sweet almonds and you are there.
Since sweet almonds have none of the typical “almond” volatile compounds, I often add just a couple of kernel when making homemade almond milk. Please be cautious, though. The kernels are very bitter, if tasted alone. And they indeed contain some cyanide compound…