Chestnut amaretti
A simple and lovely recipe created by our friend and wonderful baker, chef, forager, basket maker, craftsperson extraordinaire Renee Baumann especially for the 2025 Hudson Valley Nut Fest. You can visit her website to learn more about her work and register for various workshops from foraging to felting to cattail hat making!
makes 24 small cookies
Ingredients:
1 egg white (35 g)
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp sugar (80 g)
2 Tbsp nut oil (use a fresh, good-tasting oil such as hazelnut or walnut or hickory if you’re one of the chosen few)
½ tsp almond extract
½ tsp vanilla paste or extract
1-¼ cups coarse-ground chestnut flour (130 g)
½ tsp kosher salt
½ cup, 47 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
powdered sugar (approx ¼ cup for dusting)
Steps:
Beat the egg white, nut oil, and sugar together in a bowl until well combined (you do not need to make it foamy; just mixed well is fine). Add the chestnut flour, salt, and extracts, and mix until evenly combined. The dough will be thick and quite sticky.
Dust a portion of the countertop with powdered sugar. Scoop the dough out onto a prepared surface and sift more powdered sugar over the top. Gently roll the dough into a ball, then divide it into two portions.
Roll each portion into a log and divide each log into twelve equal pieces. Dust with powdered sugar as needed so you can handle the dough.
Roll each piece into a ball and dust again with powdered sugar.
Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving space for them to expand a bit. Bake at 350° for 17-24 minutes. When they are perfectly cooked, the cookies will be just barely browned on the bottoms and around the edges, and the surface will be cracked. Be careful not to overcook!
Variations:
Omit the almond extract and add the zest of an orange or lemon.
Press the dough into mini muffin tins and add fruit for a mini tart.
Shape into thumbprints and fill with a jam of your choosing.