Ingredients
250 grams (about 8 4/5 ounces) white powdered sugar
100 grams (about 3 1/2 ounces) sweet almonds, blanched
50 grams (about 1 2/3 ounces) bitter almonds, blanched
2 egg whites
Original Italian text
Zucchero bianco in polvere, grammi 250
Mandorle dolci, grammi 100
Mandorle amare, grammi 50
Chiare d'uovo, N. 2
Directions
Blanch the almonds and dry them in the sun or in the oven, and then ground very fine.
Cream the sugar and egg whites.
Add the ground almonds.
Work into a firm dough, if the dough is too soft add a little sugar; if it is too hard add a little more beaten egg white.
Make little balls the size of a small walnut.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it with butter and then dust it with a combination of lour and icing sugar.
Place the cookies on the baking sheet far apart (They'll spread) and then flatten the balls a little to the thickness of 1 centimeter.
Original Italian text
Le mandorle spellatele e seccatele al sole o al fuoco, poi tritatele finissme con la lunetta Lavorate col mestolo in zucchero e le chiare per mezz ora almeno, e aggiungete le mandorle per formarne una pasta soda in modo da farne delle pallottole grosse quanto una piccola noce; se riuscisse troppo morbida aggiungete questa volta montata. Se vi piacesse dare agli amaretti un colore tendente al bruno, mescolate nel composto un po di zucchero bruciato.
Via via che formate le dette pallottole, che stiacerete alla grossezza di un centimetro, ponetele sopra le ostie, o sopra pezzetti di carta, oppure in una teglia unta col burro e spolverizzata di meta farina e meta zucchero a velo; ma a una discreta distanza l'una dal l'altra perche si allarganomoto e gonfiano, restando vuote all interno. Cuocetele n forno a moderato caalore.
Bake in a moderate oven.
Notes
The The recipe in this entry was taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene manuale Pratico per le Famiglie" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi. The book was first published in 1891. Since then many Italian editions have been published. Olga Ragusa's selection of recipes from Pellegrino Artusi's famous cookbook, titled "The Italian Cook Book," can be found in its entirety at www.archive.org (It's free). The University of Toronto recently published a new English edition of Pellegrino Artusi's "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well"; many of the recipes in this edition can be found at www.books.google.ca.... Photo: Mary Melfi. |
