Italian Amaretti Cookies
on Nov 15, 2022, Updated Nov 08, 2023
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One of my favorite recipes in the world has got to be Italian Amaretti 🤌cookies. These authentic Italian cookies are so good that I love them even more than chocolate chip, oatmeal, gingerbread, and sugar cookies combined! The recipe makes sixteen biscotti’s, so if you want to make everyone happy, you may need to double or even triple it. The best part is that you can make them without the Amaretto and they’re just as delicious.
Why You’ll Love Italian Amaretti Cookies
What’s not to love – crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and easy to make. Not to mention, they happen to be gluten-free, and dairy-free, and they don’t have yolks, milk, butter, or traditional flour in them so they are definitely a bit cleaner and more inclusive than other holiday recipes.
How to Prepare Italian Amaretti Cookies
👩🍳Preheat the oven to 350F. Begin by combining almond flour and sugar in a bowl, setting it aside.
🥣In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form white, foamy peaks, this usually takes 1-2 minutes. Add almond extract (or Amaretto) to the egg-white mixture, whisking briefly.
🥚Combine the egg whites with the dry ingredients, using a spatula or your hands if needed, until a sticky dough forms.
🥄Roll the dough into balls, using a measuring spoon or small ice-cream scoop, and dip each cookie ball into powdered sugar before placing them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
🌙Gently flatten each cookie with your fingers or the back of a spoon. Or, you can shape them into half-moons, dip them in crushed almond slices, or leave them plain.
🧁Bake at 350F for approximately 20 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden. After baking, allow the biscotti to cool and before storing them in a glass Tupperware.
Nonna’s Tip 👩🍳
Make sure to whisk the egg-whites until they form stiff peaks. Feel free to shape the cookies any shape you like.
Italian Amaretti Cookies Variations and Substitutions
- I wouldn’t substitute egg-whites in this recipe. However, you can add other ingredients in the dough like raisins, craisins, or anything festive.
- I have not tried this recipe with any other flour, so you will have to experiment.
- The almond on top of each cookie is more traditional, but optional. Feel free to shape them any way you like.
Other Cookie Recipes
If you love this recipe, you have to try my other cookie recipes such as my easy Puff Pastry Nutella Twists.
Shortbread Butter Cookies
27 mins
Easy Gingerbread Cookies
3 hrs 23 mins
3 Ingredient Sugar Cookies
20 mins
Best Served With
- Coffee or tea ☕
- The Italian way which is with a shot of Vecchia 🥃 (Italian Brandy)
- With a glass of milk 🥛
Common Questions
Although I have not tried this recipe with any other flour, you can definitely experiment. Results and measurements will vary.
Unfortunately, you will need the eggs in this recipe. I do recommend looking for other egg-free cookie recipes online if you are egg-free.
Yes but these are almond cookies. You can however substitute for pure vanilla extract but know that it won’t be that same authentic taste.
4 Ingredient Amaretti cookies
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups almond flour , (250 g) blanched
- ½ cup granulated sugar , (100 g)
- ½ cup egg-whites, (120 ml) I separated 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract , or vanilla if you don’t like it
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. In a bowl, mix the almond flour and sugar and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg-whites until they are white and foamy for about 1-2 minutes.
- Now add in the almond extract (or Amaretto) and whisk for a few seconds. Add the egg-white mixture into your dry ingredients. Incorporate with a spatula or switch to using your hands if you have a hard time.
- If the dough sticks to your hands you can wet your hands a bit and roll.
- Incorporate everything until you have a nice sticky dough. Once you have a sticky dough you can roll each cookie into balls — take a measuring spoon or small ice-cream scoop and scoop the dough into your hands and roll them.
- Dip each cookie ball into powdered sugar and place them on your baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten each cookie gently with your fingers or the back of a spoon.
- You can also roll them into a ball and then roll into a thick short rope and make a half-moon shape and then dip it crushed almond slices, and then add powdered sugar on top. You can also make half-moons and leave them plain as well.
- Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until light golden bottoms. Let them cool and place them in a glass Tupperware as they will be delicious even 2-3 days before Christmas. Enjoy and share with your loved ones!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So delicious & easy, thank you!
You’re so welcome, Kitty! So glad you enjoyed these cookies. ❤️
Could you please suggest vegetarian/vegan egg substitute .. for this recipe .. and others too as possible .. thanks
Hi love, unfortunately I haven’t tried 🙁
I wanted to make a double batch.
Single, double or triple apparently uses 4 large egg whites. Whaaaaat?????
Which is right?????
Hi Theodora, please look at the very first conversion unit at the front of the ingredient list and use that. Anything at the back that’s in ml or grams does not work with the system to 2x or 3x it.
I made these Amaretti cookies because there is no gluten in the recipe and I am always looking for a good GF substitute bread or desert. I rolled mine in sliced almond before baking and they were a hit. I refrigerated the cookie dough for about an hour before scooping. I used a small cookie scoop and dropped them right on top of the almonds, rolled and then baked them. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thank you, Annette. Sounds like you’ve got a great handle on these cookies and you made them your own – which I LOVE to hear! Appreciate you!
Every recipe I try I end up loving!! These were great so yummy and sweet. Melt in your mouth good!! I used these cookies on my Christmas cookie plates. Everyone loved them!! So easy to make and perfect to enjoy.
Omg so happy you loved this cookie recipe too!
The texture of these cookies was perfect: soft and chewy inside and crisp and crunchy outside. The flavor was solidly good but I wish they had been sweeter. They were noticeably less sweet than the best versions of these cookies I’ve had before… I followed the recipe except that I had to use a combination of blanched and unblanched almond flour so maybe that was the reason for the taste difference? Otherwise, I’m wondering if I can just up the granulated sugar amount directly or if I should increase sugar and reduce the flour?
Hi Giuseppe, yes I would recommend using ONLY blanched almond flour here. You can also add more sugar and adjust for sweetness as that is solely based on personal preference.
Can I use almond meal instead of almond flour?
Hi Ceida, I would use almond flour here
Thank you!
Do these freeze well?
They freeze beautifully 🙂
Thank you for sharing! Can I use pasteurized egg white from a carton!
Thank you
Hi Laura, yes you absolutely can
easily scalable way to use a ton of egg whites left over from the alton brown eggnog recipe.
I whipped my whites to just before stiff peaks. The recipe is a little vague about how stiff but I cross referenced with another similar one.
I was worried about the oil in my almond extract collapsing the meringue so I massaged it into the almond flour sugar mixture instead. Don’t think this really mattered as it all went into the same bowl.
I wanted to use up as much egg white as possible and I had 450g of almond flour which is 1.8x the recipe. 180g sugar 216g of egg white (happened to be exactly 6 of the egg whites from the eggs I used) 450g is also the size of one whole Bob’s Red Mill almond flour bag.
I added a pinch of salt.
I struggled to roll them into balls or get any meaningful shape out of them. I spooned dollops onto my dish of powdered sugar and pushed the dollops into rough circles. No way would this roll between my hands. I lined up the blobs and pressed my thumb in the top and didn’t get more creative than that. They are kinda wet and quickly absorb the powdered sugar so I tried to get them in the oven ASAP.
They don’t spread very much so I could fit 16 on my half sheet pan. Possibly more. I don’t think the size really matters a lot for these, I think my blobs were about 2tsp size
Crispy outside, soft inside, very fragrant, super super easy.
This is what other “use up your egg whites” recipes should be. I don’t know why all the other recommendations for that are like “use every single dish in your kitchen and 16 rare ingredients besides your 2 extra egg whites” when i have 4/6/12 egg whites and zero effort left.
they came out of the oven 5 minutes ago and ive eaten 3
CJ wow! what a helpful and beautiful review! Everyone will learn so much from you
As far as rolling into a ball — I too struggled with that at first until I dolloped the right size (generous Tbsp for me) into the confectioners sugar and then, working super quickly, rolled them into balls between my two hands over the bowl of sugar. Key is quick movement and a coating of the confectioner sugar.