Amarettini Candy Recipes

AMARETTI CRISPS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and toast in oven until lightly browned and fragrant, 7 to 9 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool.
• Combine almonds and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and grind to a fine powder. Transfer to a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into almond mixture; fold in almond extract.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer almond mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe twenty 2-inch rings onto prepared sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and immediately transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

AMARETTINI CANDY

Steps:

• Place the amarettini in a freezer bag and crush the cookies into very fine crumbs (using a glass bottle). Place the crumbs in a bowl and stir in the amaretto.
• Break the chocolate into pieces and melt those using a hot water bath. Add the cookie crumbs and mix well.
• Pur the mixture onto a baking sheet and form into a rectangle of about 20X10 cm. Refrigerate for 30 minute.
• Cut the hardened mass into small cubes (2X2.5cm).
• For garnish: Melt the chocolate using a hot water bath, fill it into a freezer bag, cut off a tiny edge and decorate the cubes with the chocolate. For a variation you could also use two different kinds of chocolate.
• Place in a box and store in a cool place (these will keep up to ten days).

AMARETTI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a food processor, grind the almonds into a fine meal. Add the sugar and continue to process for another 15 seconds. Finally, add egg whites and almond extract, continue to process until a smooth dough forms around the blade.
• Using a teaspoon, place well rounded spoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Cookies should be at least 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Cookies should be golden. Allow cookies to cool completely on the paper before removing. Store in a dry place.

CINNAMON HARD CANDY

Steps:

• Line a large cookie sheet with a 1 inch lip with foil.
• Butter the foil and set pan aside.
• Add water, sugar, corn syrup and food coloring to large heavy pan and stir until well mixed.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally.
• Cover pan with lid and cook for 3 minutes (very important, this will dissolve the sugar crystals that may form on the sides of the pan)
• Take lid off pan and cook on medium-high heat, without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 300°F (hard crack stage), about 25 minutes. (Be patient, don't turn up heat to speed this up as it can go from cooking to burning in a second and the whole batch would be ruined).
• Remove candy from heat stir in cinnamon oil (house will spell like cinnamon for days unless you open windows before you do this step, also be careful not to have your face right over the the pot).
• Quickly pour into prepared pan.
• Cool completely (about 45 minutes).
• Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and use a hammer to get pieces small enough to get into a large zip top bag, then smash inside the bag until they are bite sized.
• Add powdered sugar to bag and shake to coat all sides (note, check for holes in bag first, sometimes the candy punctures the bag).
• Enjoy.