Makes 20
65g walnuts
100g sugar
2 egg whites
5g vanilla sugar
3 drops of almond essence
10g flour
’Mom, what are you baking?’
’Amaretti.’
[It’s even more difficult to pronounce in Romanian – we call them
’pricomigdale’.]
I remember that bizarre name. ’It sounds so posh’, I’d tell myself. I was 8 or
9.
Every time I got a bite of those cookies, the name-related thought would
disappear. They were that good!...
How can you bake them, too?
Grind the walnuts and mix them with the sugar.
Add the egg whites without beating
them and heat the batter on low heat; don’t stop stirring.
By continuing to stir, cool the
batter.
Add the vanilla sugar, the almond
essence, and the flour – you will notice the batter turning thicker and
gummier.
Form circles with a spoon in a baking
pan, on baking parchment. Bake in the oven, preheated at 150°C (with ventilation – as set in the case of all my recipes), for 10 minutes.
My amaretti are as tasty as those
of my childhood. Now I can even say their names right.
How have yours turned out?
Version:
If you wish to avoid the almond extract, but still aim for that almond flavour, add 5g of almond flakes on top of the 60g of chopped walnuts.
