Lea Hogg

‘I love easy recipes that produce great results and I have added these soft amaretti to my Christmas baking. They must be barely cooked to retain that softness of marzipan that nearly melts in your mouth. If you are using pure ground almonds, there is no need to add essence as it sometimes overpowers the natural taste of almonds.  With this method they are ready in a flash and much more economical than buying them ready made’

You will need:

• 1 cup flour (or gluten free flour)
• 2 cups ground almonds
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 eggs (or 4 egg whites, we used 2 eggs)
• 1 tablespoon candied oranges
• grated rind of an orange
• 1 cup icing sugar sift and keep aside and extra for dusting after baking
• vanilla seeds from a quarter of a vanilla pod if desired

Mix all the other ingredients (except the icing sugar for dusting) together and mix. Beat the eggs and use it to bind the almomd mix. Many similar recipes require beaten egg whites but this recipe works just as well.

Form into balls and then press them so that they are an irregular shape. Roll in icing sugar and place on a baking tray covered with baking pager.

Heat the oven to 160ºC. Bake the amaretti for 12 minutes, not any more. Remove from oven, dust lightly with icing sugar while they are still hot. Allow to cool then remove from tray and roll in more icing sugar.

Ingredients available at Good Earth and www.maltasupermarket.com