Lactose and Gluten Free Amaretti

You know when you really fancy something but unfortunately you cannot find it in the local supermarket? This is exactly what made me bake these biscuits. They are called Amaretti and are typical Italian cookies.

They are gluten and lactose free, so can really satisfy all guts. On top of that, they are super quick and easy to make and require very few ingredients.

In this instructable am going to show you how I made them.

The ingredients you need to make 14 Amaretti cookies are:

• 250 gr almond flour
• 160 gr sugar
• 2 egg whites
• Handful of almonds and mixed nuts
• Icing sugar for dusting

I have used brown sugar, to give a bit more organic taste to my cookies, but regular granulated sugar also works fine.

You can choose the nuts you like the most: I have used almonds and cashew nuts, but I know some people would have the Amaretti with almonds only or even without any nut.

The tools I have used are

• one big bowl
• electric whisk
• sifter

The first step needed to make the Amaretti consists in separating the egg whites from the yolks. Pour the whites in the big bowl and add the sugar to them, all in one go. Using the electric whisk, mix them together until you reach a clear and foamy consistency.

Add half of the required almond flour to the mix of eggs and sugar and mix everything together.

Add the remaining flour to the dough and mix until you reach a fairly smooth consistency.

Preheat the oven to 170° C and line some baking paper on a baking tray.

At this point you are ready to create the Amaretti. Take a small portion of the dough and roll it within your hands until you reach a sphere shape. The amount of dough I used was as big as a chestnut.

Place the raw Amaretti on the baking tray, leaving some space between the cookies.

Set one nut in the center of each biscuit and press it a little so that just on half is visible from outside and the other half is inside the cookie. Alternate the nuts you pick so to end up with a good mix.

Dust the amaretti with icing sugar before placing the tray into the oven.

Leave the Amaretti bake for 15 minutes. After that time, check if they are ready inserting a toothpick into them. If the stick comes out clean when you withdraw it, the cookies are done and you can take them out of the oven.

Leave the Amaretti cool on the tray for a couple of minutes.

Why not enjoying the the cookies with a cup of tea? Alternatively you can store them in a box in a dry place for a couple of days.