Nonna's Amaretti Cookies

Callie Blasutig
Picture
A picture of Nonna's amaretti cookies
I grew up on my Nonna’s amaretti cookies. Those delicious brown cookies, with dough that melted in my mouth, and powdered sugar that stuck to my lips while I plucked the almond out from the center. There are other cookies like it, but nothing compares to Nonna’s. 
Nonna doesn’t have much of a written recipe for these cookies; she doesn’t even remember where she learnt how to make them. But she started baking them at some point, and at some point the recipe stuck like glue. She doesn’t need a recipe anymore, it’s second nature to her. She measures by heart every single time. Just a dash of one thing and a splash of another. It always turns out right. But Nonna has made these amaretti cookies so many times that she can’t find love for the cookies' taste and charm like she once had, like losing love for a tune that you’ve heard too many times. Instead, she makes them to share and for the comfort of creating them. 
Nonna never seems to hold back. She always makes more than necessary, much to the delight of everyone. She makes enough amaretti cookies to feed everyone, and if you want cookies she’ll heave a bucket of them out for you and offer you more than you can eat. After all, she has more bucket-fulls of them in the cantina.
Everyone who has tasted Nonna's famous cookies knows and loves them. They are a popular food choice everywhere: from family gatherings to my dad's work. There’s something special about them, some sort of home cooked love that you don’t find packaged in boxes at the supermarket. Now it's my turn to share these cookies, and the love and delight baked into them. I hope you enjoy a piece of Nonna’s kitchen.

Recipe:

Equipment:

  • Blender
  • Cookie tray
  • Tray or plate
  • Two bowls
  • Spoon or fork
  • Measuring cups and measuring spoons
  • Oven

                                   Ingredients:
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ⅓ cup almond extract
  • ½ cup sunflower oil (or canola oil)
  • ¼ cup Disaronno
  • 2 teaspoons Bertolini (or baking powder if Bertolini can’t be found)
  • Approximately 7 ½ cups of raw almonds
  • 1 cup white flour
  • 1 cup icing sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 360°.
  2. Set aside ½ cup of the almonds.
  3. Finely grind the remaining almonds a cup at a time in a blender until they’re a powdery consistency.
  4. Place the ground almonds together in a bowl.
  5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs together until combined.
  6. Add in the vanilla, the almond extract, sunflower oil and Disaronno, and mix.
  7. Add the flour and Bertolini, and mix.
  8. Gradually mix in the ground almonds until the consistency is sticky and thick like peanut butter, while still retaining its wetness. There may be some ground almonds left over.
  9. Take out a tray and roughly spread icing sugar over it.
  10. Roll the dough into 1 to 1 ½ inch balls and roll them in the icing sugar so that the surface is evenly covered.
  11. Place them on a separate baking tray leaving about an inch between the cookies.
  12. With the remaining raw almonds, push one into the centre of each dough ball.
  13. Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies are a pale brown, top is cracked and bottom is firm.
  14. Leave cookies to cool for 5 minutes.
  15. Enjoy!