Amaretti biscuits a sure addition to our Christmas cooking list. Christmas at our house has been a rather sombre affair, both my husband and I have had bad backs, to the point where one morning neither of us could get out of bed, the generosity of friends has been brought us close to tears, they’ve rallied around us, bringing us home cooked meals, company and most importantly help with our 9m old. Traditionally Christmas for my husband and I have rather different, being from an Indian background Turkey, gifts and crackers didn’t feature. My husbands northern family are the opposite, the home is transformed into a fairytale, grandchildren have personalised ornaments, Christmas day is filled with extended family, there are 3 different types of stuffing to please every taste. The sum of the two has been a relaxed outlook on Christmas. As a tiny family of 4 we spend time at home, cooking, taking photos, going for walks and generally sat around in Christmas jumpers, fluffy slippers and PJs drinking hot chocolate from silly mugs.

Gifts for our 4 year old this Christmas will be a traditional inkwell writing desk that will call our sitting room it’s home. It’ll have a flip top lid so he can store his masterpieces and choking hazards away from his 9m old sister. See he loves to draw, and he cuddling up on the sofa in his PJs. Christmas for me is about feeling loved and making and eating delicious food, waking up to smells of something delicious cooking.

As such I was so pleased to receive the new “Stories” magazine from Neptune home. I always look forward to reading it, it’s like no other brochure I’ve ever read. I save them in my study to read them with a cup of something nice when the children are at school / asleep. I found this edition had a wonderful recipe to make Amaretti biscuits. My mistake was that I didn’t use the freshest eggs so the egg white whipping took an incredibly long time and still weren’t as fluffy as the recipe demanded. They tasted very festive anyway 🙂 and I enjoyed taking the photos. Let me know what you think.

 

 

Makes 18–20

Put aside: 15 minutes to make them and 12 minutes for baking.

What you’ll need

180g ground almonds

120g caster sugar preferably golden

60g dried cranberries roughly chopped

3 drops almond extract

2 tsp honey clear, runny

2 egg whites free-range

1 lemon zested

A pinch of sea salt

A dusting of icing sugar for rolling

 

1 Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) or gas mark three.

2 Place the ground almonds, sugar, cranberries, lemon zest, almond extract and salt in a large bowl and combine so they’re evenly mixed.

3 Beat the egg whites and honey together to form a soft meringue, either by hand or using an electric whisk. Fold this into the almond mixture – carefully, so you don’t lose the air – until you have a soft paste.

4 Taking a tablespoon of mixture at a time, roll the paste into balls. In a small bowl, tip in some icing sugar and roll each amaretti ball in the sugar to coat them entirely. Add more icing sugar to the bowl as you go.

5 Place each of the dusted balls onto a lined baking tray and bake for approximately 12 minutes, or until they’ve taken on some colour. You want them to be pale and chewy in the middle.

6 You can dust them with a little more icing sugar once cooled if you want a snowier finish. Store them in an airtight container and they’ll keep for three–four days.

Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens
Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens
Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens
Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens
Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens
Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens
Amaretti Biscuits - Neptune Kitchens

11 + 12 =