Gasp--my very favorite cookie! I have never tried making them at home, but I will now. Thank you for posting this delicious-sounding recipe.

I have always called these almond macaroons, but make them very frequently. My family adores them. I get my almond flour from the local farmer's market, where the vendor knows me, and makes a point of have at least a pound for me. I put these bags in a larger freezer bag, and leave them in my deep freezer for emergencies. King Arthur Flour's site also has almond flour.

I live in Norway and I receive many "Simply Recipes" all the time. The biggest problem is that many of the ingredients given, are not available here, for example, Almond flour, Superfine sugar and extracts. Who can I contact to find out which substitutions that can be used?

I just wanted to note that these are gluten-free and maybe even Passover-friendly. Yumm!

Eiven,

You can make your own Almond flour and superfine sugar yourself, in a blender or food processor. For Almond flour, just grind up almonds. Superfine sugar is regular table sugar processed for a few seconds until the sugar crystals are very small, but not yet a powder.

Diane

Do these come out crunchy like Italian amaretti, or chewy like almond macaroons?

Also, is there a difference b/w almond flour and almond meal and does it matter which one is used in this recipe?

I live in an area where we have few choices for groceries... and I never see baker's sugar or superfine sugar out here. Are there any other options other than mail order?

Note from Elise: Pulse regular white granulated sugar in a food processor.

Rachelle - Like many recipes, there is more than one way to make a certain dish. I have seen some call for ground apricot kernels, but it's not an ingredient that's exactly easy to procure. Plus the ones that have apricot kernels have, in my opinion, a slight coffee taste which I personally dislike in the cookie.

Is there any way I can make the chocolate amaretti cookies?

Lajuana Palmer - Maybe you could add a small bit of cocoa powder? Try it out and write back and let us all know how it turns out! =)

Wow, I tried this recipe and it was great. I don't think my grandma ever made them this good, lol!

I made these this weekend, and they are delicious!

I love love love amaretti biscuits or anything with almonds in it really. These look delicious and I'm sure they wouldn't last long in my house!

I was pretty excited when I saw this recipe, since I LOVE amarettis. Unfortunately, I followed the recipe exactly, no substitutions, and they turned out.. well,, blah...they were not light and chewy in the middle.. they were dense and had a yucky texture. More like an almond macaroon and less like the amarettis I have had at Italian bakeries

I loved these cookies...but mine look a little pale, lumpy...generally unappetizing. It's taking some urging to get people to try them. I followed the recipe exactly and also experimented with leaving them in the oven longer to get them golden brown. (It didn't work.) Any suggestions for how to make them look more appealing (and less the target of jokes at my Thanksgiving table)?

Well Rhoda, appealing is really in the eye of the beholder. Almond flour can be used rather than course ground almonds for smoother texture. But if you do use coarse ground, I enjoy seeing all the almondy goodness.-Garrett

Love these! I wanted some chocolate with them for Christmas so I melted a small package of chocolate chips in the microwave for a couple minutes on high stirring once or twice,(they don't look melted till you stir them - don't overheat). I dipped half of the cookies in the chocolate and put them on wax paper till set. You could also drizzle the chocolate over the top. This may not be traditional but it sure is yummy.

Hi Garrett,
I found an outlet which sells amaretti flour and can I just say that they are the most delicious biscuit in the world & as a family we are all eating the gluten free way. Once per week I have to make them or I get screamed at by both my husband & our 2 teenage sons..hehehe. I couldn't find almond extract so I just use almond essance which still does the trick. Thank you so very much.
Cheers
Jane Ruys, NZ

I don't have a food processor. Can I just use a regular electric mixer?

Should be fine I think. ~Garrett

Awesome! I made them for Passover this year, and they are a huge hit! Thanks for the recipe!

Apricot kernels are traditionally used to make amaretti cookies. Apricot kernels have cyanide in them if they aren't baked thoroughly before using. Which can ruin perfectly good friendships. :-)

The Chez Panizze fruit cookbook has a recipe that is closer to the classic Italian recipe for amaretti. It at least it uses apricot kernels.

Hi Gwen, did you know that almond extract is made from apricot kernels? It is. We use the kernels occasionally in cooking, but they are a little hard to come by unless it's apricot season. ~Elise

It is definitely better to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them in with a metal spoon. You get a lighter texture. It isn't really necessary to process the almonds and sugar unless you can't get ground almonds and caster/superfine sugar (neither are a problem in the UK!). After all, the recipe is probably older than electricity!

You can buy ground/powdered apricot kernels online - there is at least one outlet in the UK but the Americans have apparently banned them on health grounds. I've never seen them in a shop and they're not cheap but you don't need much - maybe substitute 1/6 of the almonds for ground apricot kernels.

If you want a honeyed equivalent then try riciarelli. There is a recipe at http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Ricciarelli_Biscuits.aspx

Buon appetito!

This is the best cookie recipe I've ever made/eaten or heard of. The only thing that might top it would be a death-by-ginger cookie, but I'm not even sure. My roommate, my sisters and my mom all said the same. If you love almond flavored pastries, this will not disappoint. The flavor is delicate, almondy and elegant, it's in a class of its own. My only gripe is that almond flour is expensive, but the cookie is still worth it.

One problem I had was the flatness of the cookie. It would pan out. The other thing is that these cookies wouldn't turn golden unless they were overbaked (for me). So . . . watch out! I like mine chewy though.

The other thing is that I killed my blender mixing the flour and sugar. For my purposes, the cookie still tastes amazing without the food processor step, but maybe it affects the shape and lightness (mine were a little weighty, but the flavor is so light it doesn't matter).

Besides the food processor fiasco, and learning to separate eggs, this recipe is not hard, especially since the ingredients are few.

My last thing- what to do with the three lonely yolks? pudding?

or ice cream. ~Elise