- By Charlotte Brown
- June 17, 2024
AMARETTI BISCUITS CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER ITALY. THESE LITTLE BISCUITS, SIMILAR TO FRENCH MACAROONS, CAN BE DRY OR SOFT. THEY ARE ALSO USED IN DESSERTS, AND EVEN SAVOURY DISHES!
Text by Mégane Fleury – Photographs par Caroline Sans (featured in the June 2024 issue of Pastry1 Magazine)
International cuisine
Gourmet delights beyond our borders
Amaretto (plural: amaretti) is one of the classics of Italian biscuit-making. The name of this biscuit comes from the Italian word amaro, meaning bitter, as it contains bitter almonds. This is in fact what distinguishes it from French macaroons, as their composition is similar Italian amaretto also contains ground almond, egg whites and sugar.
BITTER ALMOND, THE MAIN INGREDIENT IN AMARETTO
‘The proportion of bitter almonds should not exceed 30%,’ says Giulia Foppoli, an Italian-born pastry chef based at Ramatuelle, in the Var region of France. Bitter almond powder can come either from wild almond trees or from apricot kernels. ‘It must be used sparingly as large quantities can be toxic.’ In fact, these fruit stones contain cyanide. ‘Apricot kernels contain a significant amount of amygdalin, a naturally occurring compound that converts to the highly toxic cyanide during digestion,’ stated the French National Health Safety Agency in a notice published in 2018. ‘Otherwise, some people use chemical flavouring to create the same taste,’ says the Italian chef. While it is characteristic of amaretto, this bitterness
can be divisive. ‘When I was little, we’d often have amaretti biscuits at home, which a family friend would bring to us, but I didn't like them because they were too bitter for me. It was as an adult that I began to appreciate them.’
How they are eaten depends on their shape
A MULTI-PURPOSE BISCUIT
Traditionally, it's true that amaretti are most often enjoyed par adults, as they are often served with dessert wines or coffee. But how you eat them depends on their shape, because amaretto can be either a crunchy or a soft biscuit. ‘When it's soft,
it's eaten like a dessert or shortbread,’ says the chef. The crunchy version is instead used as an ingredient to flavour recipes, for example, it can be broken up and sprinkled over ice creams or mousses, or to replace the sponge cake in a tiramisu.’ They can also be used in savoury recipes, such as tortilla di zucca, a pasta stuffed with squash, almonds and cheese, whose recipe contains crushed amaretti biscuits.
Cooking is the only thing that can be complex
For Giulia Foppoli, these biscuits make her think of only one recipe: peaches with amaretto. ‘It's a peach cut in half, with crushed amaretti biscuits in place of the kernals,’ she says. My aunt used to make them, sprinkling them with chocolate chips and brown sugar before baking.’ She explains that this dessert is also often served with vanilla ice cream in restaurants in summer. ‘The temperature differences between the products really add something, it's a bit like warm tarte tatin served with ice cream or crème fraîche.’
TAKE CARE WHEN IT COMES TO BAKING!
Whatever the type of amaretto and its use, its appearance remains broadly similar: it always has a round shape, but its diameter can vary. The Italian chef points out that in Sardinia, amaretto is the size of a biscuit. Technically, she thinks it's pretty straight- forward. ‘Cooking is the only part that can be complex.’ If the biscuit is overcooked, it may burn. The oven should be set to a maximum of 170°C for a soft amaretto. ‘The crust should be crisp and the core still moist, like a dacquoise or macaron.’ Sufficiently gentle cooking allows the amaretto to dry out without becoming too dry. After cooking, some amaretti are wrapped in a kind of wrapper. According to Giulia Foppoli, this presentation technique is best reserved for soft amaretti.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF AMARETTO?
This biscuit is found in most regions of Italy, but its exact origin is unclear. According to one theory, this Italian emblem was invented in Venice in the 17th century. But for others, it was first made in the town of Saronno, near Milan, in the 18th century. The local baker is thought to have wanted to create a special biscuit to celebrate the Cardinal of Milan’s arrival in the city, but all he had was sugar, egg whites and ground apricot kernels. He is said to have invented a baked biscuit wrapped in a small paper: amaretto. In this town, one family has been making the traditional recipe since 1719: the Lazzaroni family. Whatever its exact history, amaretto has truly survived the centuries to become one of the emblematic products of Italian cuisine.
Sources: https://www.anses.fr/fr/content/amandes-dabricots-un-risque-dintoxication-au-cyanure; https://www.robinsandsons.co.uk/blogs/blog/history-of-amaret- ti-biscuit; On va déguster l’Italie published par Marabout; https://giadzy.com/blogs/tips/more-than-a-cookie-the-history-of-amaretti; Giulia Foppoli https://giuliapatis- serieitalienne.fr