TWD #15: 15 Minute Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte

Holly of Phe/MOM/enon picked this week’s TWD recipe, a quick fix with a long name.

Well, a quick fix IF you can find amaretti cookies in your area.  I, on the other hand, had to make the cookies only to pulverize them in a food processor.  Luckily I like to bake cookies and I love to willfully destroy things, so I followed this recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes:

Amaretti Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of almond flour -or- 3 cups of blanched slivered almonds, finely ground up
• 1 1/4 cup of baker’s sugar (superfine sugar)
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• Extra sugar for dusting

Method

1 Preheat oven to 300 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 In a food processor mill together the almond flour and sugar. Add the vanilla and almond extract and pulse for a few seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to process until the dough is smooth.

3 Place teaspoons of the dough on the parchment paper and dust with sugar. Bake for 24-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before serving. They will be slightly chewy at first, but they will be nicely crispy as a day or two goes by. Store in a cool, dry place. (Note: I usually under bake mine since I like them chewy. If that’s your preference, bake them for about 20-24 minutes.) Makes about 30 cookies.

After the cookies cooled, I proceded with the recipe as written.   Super easy, super fast and it didn’t make a lot of dishes, either.   Since I was making the cake the night before and Dorie warned that wrapping the cake tightly as required would mess up the glaze, I decided to coat my cake in slivered almonds.   Unfortunately, I didn’t consider that the slivered almonds might become a tad soft and soggy.   Luckily my friend Secret Server was attending our Easter celebration and is a lover of oddities, such as burnt cookies, rolls hard enough to dent my garage, super dense muffins AND mushy nuts.  (Heee, heee.. mushy nuts!  Yes, I’m that immature.   I’m also going around telling everyone the Fish Stick joke.  And laughing hysterically every time.)  I also made the almond whipped cream but guesstimated the amount of almond extract and overdid it.   Nevertheless, I think everyone enjoyed the cake; it was very rich, dense and fudgy with a great almond flavor.   I think if you can’t find the amaretti cookies and don’t wish to take the extra step of creating and destroying a batch of cookies that you could use almost any crispy cookie, for example, biscotti, ginger cookies, or crunchy wafer type cookies.

Please take the time to check out the recipe at Holly’s blog and the fantastic variation that Secret Server made for her son’s birthday.