How to prepare amaretti

Crunchy and crumbly, amaretti are typical biscuits prepared with almonds and egg white. Let's discover the recipe for preparing them and the history.

Amaretti are typical biscuits throughout the country which are prepared with egg white, almonds and armelline almonds (i.e. the inside of the stone of peaches and apricots) which give the sweets their bitter flavour. More and more often, armelline almonds are omitted in home preparations, leaving room for bitter almonds or just classic sweet almonds.

Every Italian region, from North to South , prepares them both to eat on their own but much more frequently to use in the making of other desserts. There are many variations , even if the main ones are only two and both come from Lombardy or on the border between Piedmont and Liguria: those of Saronno and those of Sassello.

Preparing these sweets is quite simple , let's go into the kitchen and immediately see what all the steps are.

Preparation of macaroons

The recipe we are going to prepare is the one for making around 25 amaretti di Saronno, the most common. They are hard and very honeycombed inside.

1. First of all, prepare the ingredients by weighing them one by one.
2. Now combine the baking ammonia with the sugar and mix.
3. Put all the sugar in the mixer together with all the almonds and operate the appliance until you obtain a fine and homogeneous powder .
4. Separately, beat the egg white with a fork or a whisk by hand, then add the powder a little at a time and, continuing to beat it, obtain a homogeneous mixture.
5. Place the dough in a bowl, cover it with a cloth and we recommend placing it in the fridge overnight , so that the mixture has the right consistency to be worked. However, you can also use it immediately, in which case we recommend wetting your hands to carry out the next step or using a piping bag (or if the dough is too sticky even after resting).
6. After at least 8 hours , take the bowl again and make balls the size of a walnut. At this point there are those who pass them in more granulated sugar (typical of the Saronno recipe) otherwise you can immediately move on to placing them on a baking tray covered with baking paper.
7. Let's move on to cooking by baking the biscuits for about 15-20 minutes at 170°C .
8. Once finished, remove the amaretti biscuits from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack before serving.

And here is a video recipe very similar to our preparation, if it weren't for the doubling of the doses:

How to make the variant of Sassello soft amaretti

To make the softest, but among the oldest, variant of Sassello amaretto, there is essentially only one step to modify: that is, the processing of the egg white.

1. Grind the almonds with sugar and ammonia until you obtain a very fine powder .
2. Whip the egg white until stiff , then, being careful not to dismantle it, add the powder little by little.
3. Create the amaretti biscuits with wet hands and, if desired, roll them in icing sugar.
4. Bake at 160°C for about 15-20 minutes and, if desired, top with more icing sugar after cooking.

Origin of amaretti

We are in Italy in the Middle Ages, around the 13th century , when these sweets whose history we don't know were born. However, they were immediately appreciated throughout the country and not only that, they soon also spread to Arab countries and, during the Renaissance, to Europe. In addition to the Italian tradition, France also boasts a long history in the production of these desserts, especially in the regions of Lorraine and the Basque Country.

Although there are no certain sources on their origin, there is a story that revolves around their birth. It is said that in 1718 the Cardinal of Milan decided to visit the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of Miracles of Saronno. To celebrate the event, a young couple created a dough based on sugar, kernels and egg whites, which, once baked, gave life to round biscuits : amaretti.

All the most famous variations of sweet amaretti

There are many variations of these desserts, but the most typical are essentially two:

• The amaretto di Saronno with its unmistakable crunchiness which is also often used for many desserts such as the Russian cake from Verona or the Piedmontese stuffed peaches.
• We also have Sassello amaretto , much softer and similar in consistency to marzipan.

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