Chocolate amaretti

[Dan Lepard]

Chocolate amaretti

These are utterly easy to make but it's absolutely essential to leave them overnight uncovered at room temperature before baking, as the puffing comes from the egg whites drying out. I've tried leaving the mixture 2 - 4 hours and it simply spreads rather than puffs in the oven. So make these a day ahead to avoid any problems. Serve with little pot of mascarpone and a small glass of grappa

75g ground almonds
125g caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 egg whites (from large 60g eggs)
Icing sugar

Place all the ingredients in the bowl and mix with a spoon until evenly combined. Line one or two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment (or butter sheets of foil) then spoon small 2-3cm blobs of almond paste onto the paper spaced 2-3cm apart. Sift icing sugar heavily over the top then leave them overnight uncovered at room temperature. The following day heat the oven to 220C (fan assisted). Squish each blob of almond paste inward with your fingers. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until a rich golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray.

[Dan Lepard]

A reader writes:

Last Sat a recipe for chocolate amaretti was published in the Guardian. I have measured the ingredients very carefully with excellent scales (and am an experienced cook!) but the mixture is almost liquid and I can only imagine there is a mistake – a typo perhaps?
It asks for 75g ground almonds, 125 g of caster sugar, 2 egg whites …and the rest. Having put out the mixture as directed it basically just runs about (it is not an almond paste) and I cannot imagine how tomorrow morning it will be a paste allowing a squish by a finger!
Any explanation?

The way you've described it sounds right, and the result puffs up in the oven the following day. The mixture should be very runny, and lay flat like pennies on the tray. Then it's very important to dust them over with icing sugar and leave them overnight. What happens is that the egg white dries out and also develops a crust on the exterior. When the mixture is on the tray it will be very runny.

I only wish I had more space in the column to explain this but the editors simply cut it out so it fits in a strip down the side of the page. I would say it is still an almond paste, but suitable for amaretti or similar (ratafia, French macaroons) biscuits rather than rolling onto a cake. I will make some this evening and post the before and after pictures on my website forum here.

Friday, 9:30pm; my kitchen at home

You will need:

75g ground almonds
125g caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 egg whites (from large 60g eggs)
Icing sugar



Weigh the almonds and the sugar into a bowl.



Add the egg whites, cocoa, almond essence and bicarbonate of soda.



Stir everything together to a smooth paste.



Line the tray with non-stick baking parchment. Two small tips: whenever I want to spoon anything onto a tray, cookies etc, I sit the tray on a cloth to stop it wobbling about. And I put dabs of the mixture under the paper to stop that moving too.



Spoon small 2-3cm blobs of the almond paste onto the paper spaced 2-3cm apart. You don't need to be too perfect, and they will sit flat like coins on the tray.



Sift icing sugar heavily over the top then leave them overnight uncovered at room temperature. As I say in the introduction it's really important that they dry out, so don't cover them with clingfilm.



I just sit them somewhere safe (we have cats), like on top of the refrigerator until morning.

To be continued in the morning....

[breadhead]

Can't wait to try yours. I do a recipe from Carol Fields. I never new why they should sit overnight. Sometimes I mix up a batch and place the entire bowl in the fridge. Come to think of it, it's also runny but firms up overnight. Then shape and bake. I've even left the bowl a couple of days, covered with saran.

Tony

[Dan Lepard]

The following morning, about 8.00 am


I turn the oven on to 220C (fan-assisted), but 200C would be fine as they scorch a little bit at the higher temp. I quite like that but it's up to you.



Squish the amaretti at the sides so they form rather ugly looking caterpillar shapes.



Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so until puffed and just slightly scorched. In my oven at home 10 minutes at 220C (fan-assisted) is more than enough. The high temperature makes sure they jump in the oven yet stay soft and chewy in the middle.



Voilla. These brutti ma buoni (ugly but good) amaretti are finished. You could make them sit a little higher by reducing the egg white by a tsp but that gets a little tricky. Perhaps increase the almonds by a tablespoon (6g-8g) or so? Let me know what you think.

Breadhead, the recipe for plain amaretti we developed for Locanda Locatelli that this recipe was based on (click on the picture for a pdf of the page; requires adobe acrobat reader):



was from a book I bought for chef Giorgio Locatelli when the restaurant opened. I can't be sure but I think it was Manuale della decorazione italiana

regards

Dan

[Nils]

Quite a dramatic transformation. Awesome. I wonder if the same technique can / should be applied to Ricciarelli - a soft almond cookie, which I have not been able to reproduce.

Regards,
Nils

[breadhead]

They look really yummy. I'll have to try your recipe. I love all things almond (and hazelnut).

Tony

[Tess]

I have tried the chocolate amaretti biscuits about four times and finally after using the wrong egg size i got the mix right i think. The squish up ok the next day and have the crunch chewy texture right but they really flatten out like anzacs. I have also tried the giorgio locatelli ones as well and the same result - not sure if i am doing something wrong.

Next day!

i just re read all the replies which i obviously didn't do! so i will try higher temp and less egg whites and see if that helps

still no luck!