Crispy with a chewy almond inside: amaretti cookies

Alex McKeen (with Winnie the kitten sniff-testing). Alex is a reporter turned data person at the Star. Past baking attempts have been described by eaters as "science experiments."

TODAY'S RECIPE

Amaretti cookies that were described as the all-time favourite of food writer Corey Mintz in 2015, when this recipe was published.

THE COOKIES 

The dough for these amaretti was the most delightful sweet thing that has ever been assembled in my kitchen. Together the almonds, beaten egg whites, sugar, vanilla and rum formed a thick sticky paste that looked like a rice porridge and tasted like the lovechild of almond butter and boxed vanilla cake mix. More than one spoonful was carefully taste tested before any dough was rolled into balls.

And that is where the hopefulness of my nascent baking career ended (the first time I formed soft peaks out of egg whites!), and the challenges began.

In my first of two sheet pans of cookies I baked (about 16 each time) I rolled balls about 5 centimeters at their widest point, then placed on the baking sheet and dusted with icing sugar. I was hoping the balls would more or less hold their spherical shape as the picture in the original  recipe shows, but my kitten and I watched through the oven door as they melted heartbreakingly into indistinct blobs. I also found they took much longer to bake than 10 minutes; they were in the oven for about 20 minutes instead.

For the second batch I rolled balls the size of about one and a half of my own thumbs, covered them in icing sugar and then placed them on parchment paper on a baking sheet. I baked this batch for 30 minutes.

While neither batch held a satisfying three-dimensional shape, the second batch are among the best cookies I’ve eaten. The outside has a crispy crust, and the inside is a sticky, chewy almond delight. I’ll try baking them again until I figure out the structural challenges (I’d love your e-mails if you have ideas). In the meantime, I’ll tell people the cookies are intentionally shaped as half-melted snowmen.

THE SCORE

THE RECIPE

Amaretti 

500 g (1.1 lbs), about 2.5 cups (750 mL) whole blanched almonds

350 g (.77 lbs), about 1.5 cups (375 mL) sugar

3 egg whites

splash of vanilla extract

splash of rum

lots of icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160 C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Place almonds and sugar in food processor and grind to a fine powder.

In a large mixing bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the almond mixture, along with a few drops of vanilla and/or rum.

Spoon mixture or roll into small balls and place on baking tray (this is the point where experienced bakers twist them into s-shapes or something delightful but I’m happy with lumpy mounds). Dust heavily with icing sugar.

Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes.

Makes about 30 cookies.