Amarena Cherry Amaretti 🍒
Almond and cherry are a flavor-match made in heaven
These chewy Italian almond cookies stuffed with luscious Amarena cherries are better than any store-bought treat and are naturally gluten-free! I found this recipe by Love & Olive Oil over the holidays, made them four times in December and each time my family devoured them. So when Valentine’s Day rolled around, I knew I had to make another batch.
Cooking videos are not my strong suit (so much multi-tasking!), but you can watch my tiktok on how I made them here.
Ingredients:
2 heaping cups (200g) almond flour
1 scant cup (175g) granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 large egg whites
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Optional: 1 tsp Luxardo maraschino liqueur (you can also use cherry liqueur or amaretto)
24-26 Amarena or Luxardo cherries
Confectioner’s sugar, as needed
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300* Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, sugar and salt until evenly incorporated.
In a mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), whisk egg whites and lemon juice until they hold soft peaks.
Add beaten egg whites, optional cherry or almond liqueur, and almond extract to dry ingredients and stir until mixture forms a soft, sticky dough. Feel free to knead with your hands.
Lightly dust your hands with powdered sugar. Portion dough into 1-inch balls.
Split each ball in half, and somewhat flatten one piece on your palm. Place one cherry on top of flattened piece, then top with remaining half of dough, forming it over and around the cherry and sealing up the sides.
Roll into a smooth ball, then roll in powdered sugar.
Arrange on parchment or silicon-lined baking sheets, leaving 1 inch of space between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 25 minutes until tops are cracked and bottoms are just barely golden. If you prefer crunchier cookies you can give them an extra 5 minutes or so.
Remove from oven; let cool a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight bag or container, for up to 5 days… if you can keep them around that long. Happy belated Valentine’s Day, xx