April 24, 2015

Sour Cherry Amaretti

These sour cherry amaretti cookies are nutty with almonds and wonderfully chewy and sweet dotted with dried tart cherries.

We have an entire wall of books in our bedroom that are arranged by color. Interior design trumps the Dewey Decimal System.

I have no problem spotting the spines of my cookbooks even though they are mixed up with all sorts of different titles.

When I find myself with a little time, I like to perch on the edge of the bed, zone out and browse the shelves.

With leftover egg whites from my last batch of ice cream, I searched my cookbook collection something to do with them.

I ended up settling on a batch of sour cherry amaretti.

These nutty, almond cookies were wonderfully chewy and dotted with dried tart cherries.

The recipe didn’t use up all my whites, but I saved the rest in the freezer for future amaretti.

These sour cherry amaretti cookies are nutty with almonds and wonderfully chewy and sweet dotted with dried tart cherries.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment.
In a large bowl, combine the ground almonds, granulated sugar, lemon zest, almond extract and salt. Stir in the dried cherries.
In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites and honey until soft peaks form. Fold the egg white mixture into the dry ingredients. Using your hands, form the dough into 20 balls. Roll them in confectioners’ sugar and place them on the prepared sheet pan about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes until they turn slightly golden and are chewy in the center. Cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container.

Adapted from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sam Tamimi