Grandma's Design

TUSCIAN AMARETTI WITH CIMINI HAZELNUTS

GRANDMA

Loretta

COUNTRY

Italian Italy

ORIGIN

Lazio

INGREDIENTS

Sugar 250 g
3 eggs
Hazelnuts 300 g
Pinenuts 500 g

HISTORY

This dessert is typical of the festival of Carnival. Lia often prepares these macaroons as a reminder of her childhood years when she went to her father's pizzeria to eat them. In fact, after a day of carnival, she used to go with her friends to eat pizza, and at the end of the meal they tasted a plate of macaroons. Today she often promises to make that same kind of macaroons.Most likely created in renaissance Venice amaretti are nowadays prepared using very similar recipes in many regions of Italy, including the southern-central areas. The most well-known are those from Saronno, in the province of Varese, which are wrapped in pairs in characteristic “sweet paper”; but also from Sassello, Torino (“amaretto del nonno”), Chivasso (“i piccolissimi nocciolini”), Acqui, Carloforte (Cagliari) Mombaruzzo, Gavi (Alessandria), Borgomanero (“brutti ma buoni”), Modena (“amarelli”, which are made with coconut), Oristano (“amareddus”). Many other areas of southern-central Italy offer this type of baked macaroons, such as Blera (Viterbo), and Tuscany, where amaretti are made with hazelnuts from Cimini.

More Minus

HOW TO

Break the eggs, separating the yolks from the whites. In this recipe only the whites are used. Mix the egg whites and the sugar, and with an electric mixer whisk into stiff peaks.Blend the hazelnuts in the mixer, add them to the mixture and mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the baking cases that have been arranged onto a baking tin, and sprinkle the top of each one with pinenuts. Bake for 10 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 140°C .