Amaretti Cookies

When I was a little kid, my dad would go to Domino's bakery every Saturday morning. It was a small Italian pastry shop near my house, and every trip was the highlight of my week. Even the dog loved the trip in the car. Every Saturday, Joe Dad would put on his blue jeans and she would go wild, leaping in circles, and tackling my sister and I until we made our way out to the car.
My sister, Andrea, would always get either a chocolate eclair or a cream napoleon, my mom always got a Danish (I still don't understand this) and my dad and I would mix up our orders every week. I always gravitated toward the petits fours, with either a mini cheesecake, carrot cake, almond cream puff, or cannoli--the only thing more appealing than mini cakes. My dad seemed to get a different thing each time, though if there were almond croissants, he'd get at least one.
He always got a box of amaretti.

Well, he almost always got a box of amaretti. Each time we'd visit, he would ask the little old lady behind the counter whether the cookies were crisp or chewy, and would only buy them if they were chewy (lucky for us, the pastry chef who preferred chewy usually had the morning shift on Saturday)
These cookies are still my dad's favorite and though he has a new favorite bakery, every time he goes, he still picks up a box of amaretti and I get to relive those great Saturday mornings filled with delicious cookies, almond scented pastry cream, and adorable petits fours with my family.
I decided to leave each member of my family with a little gift of food when I leave for school, and thought these would be perfect for Dad. My mom's getting pretzel rolls, and Andrea's getting meringue cupcakes, but of the 3, these are my favorite, and the most sentimental.

I've tried several recipes and though they always come out tasting great (except the one batch that was crunchy shudders) I have never ben able to perfectly recreate the cookies from the bakery. This batch comes closest as it's pretty dense and has a stronger almond flavor from the almond extract. In all honesty, most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these and the cookies from my childhood, but I've had plenty of experience with amaretti, and the memory of the flavor of these cookies stands out in my mind because it's surrounded with so many other great memories.

Soft Amaretti Cookies
(Gluten Free)
Makes about 20 cookies

7 oz crumbled almond paste
1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 Tbs honey
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.
In a stand mixer, beat the almond paste on high speed, until thoroughly broken up, somewhere between crumbs and a spreadable paste. Slowly add the powdered sugar, continuing to stir on low speed.
Add the egg white, extract, honey and salt and beat on medium, until thick and well mixed. This should take about 5 minutes.
Put the dough in a pastry bag with a plain tip and pipe 1 inch circles onto the cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until crisp on the outside but still soft and slightly gummy on the inside.

Yeasted Honey Biscotti di Miele

There's nothing better than the smell of baking bread,
Unless it's mixed with the smell of baking cookies.

I made bread on Monday and my family devoured the honey wheat loaf, so I figured it was time to make these biscotti di miele.
They're essentially honey wheat bread in cookie form, made with whole wheat flour, just a ad of honey, and then rolled in coarse raw sugar before baking.
These remind me of something I would have eaten as a little kid after one of my Dad's Saturday Domino's runs. I've always been partial to the hardly sweet Italian cookies, and these are no exception.
They're so old world tasting, it's hard to believe Nonna didn't make them for you.

If you're afraid of yeast, this is a great practice recipe for you because it has a yeast in comparison to flour (pretty much guarantees that it will rise) and the second rise is in the fridge, over night. You can even leave it for up to 24 hours, so there's no need to worry about leaving it for set times, like most bread recipes.

The Perfect Little Cookie to Snack on While Blogging

These biscotti are not overly sweet, beautifully caramelized on the outside, and have a unique texture that you are guaranteed to crave after you make these for the first time.
They're like a soft breadstick, with a a caramel-honey flavor, and a bit of yeast on your tongue after you swallow.

Biscotti di Miele
Makes about 24 cookies, depending on the size of your cutter

1 1/2 cups whole wheat white flour
2.5 tbs cold butter, cut into cubes
2 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105º)
1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp set aside
pinch of salt
about 1/3 cup turbinado sugar for rolling

In a small bowl of cup, dissolve the yeast in the water with 1 tsp of honey. Let the mixture it for 5 minutes, until foamy. Add the rest of the honey and mix well.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour and salt with a fork. Add the cubed butter and cut into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter, until the mix is crumbly.
Add all of the yeast mixture to the flour and mix until the dough starts to form a ball.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow it to sit and rise in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size.
After an hour, punch the dough down and transfer to the refrigerator, covered with plastic, to rise over night.
The next morning, roll the dough to about 1/4" thick, on a floured surface. Cut the cookies into circles, then cut the circles into 1/2 circles. You can re-roll the dough 2 times (3 times maximum)
Roll the half circles in turbinado sugar, twist into a stand and pinch the edges together to form a twisted ring.
Lay the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Allow to rise, uncovered for 5 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
Twist the cookies one more time before baking for 10-15 minutes, until golden and crisp on the outside.
They should develop a crust that resembles a vey thin bread crust.