Squidgy almond middles with a gentle almond crust, these amaretti originate from Italy and are incredibly easy to make using only four ingredients. They keep for up to a week, so are perfect as a homemade gift or a treat to enjoy at a leisurely pace (although it’s hard not to eat them all on the day of baking!).
NOTE: Don’t use very fine home-ground almonds, but rather the coarser shop-bought variety (or coarsely home ground). Very fine almonds may result in your amaretti spreading, rather than holding their form.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160°C fan (375°F) and line a large baking tray (pan) with baking parchment.
• Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric hand-held whisk or a stand mixer fitted with a balloon whisk attachment for 2 minutes, until they are thick and foamy, forming soft peaks.
• Sift the icing sugar over the egg whites, then add the ground almonds and almond extract.
• Using a wooden spoon, fold all the ingredients together until you have a stiff, slightly sticky dough.
• Sift a little extra icing sugar onto a small plate. Take a heaped teaspoon of the dough and roll it between your palms to form a ball (dust your hands with sugar if the dough is sticky).
• Roll the ball in the icing sugar so it is well coated, then arrange on the prepared baking tray.
• Repeat until you have used up all the dough and have 12 balls on the baking tray, spaced evenly apart. They will spread during baking so do leave space between them.
• Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven. Leave to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.

Recipe extracted from Eat and Enjoy Gluten Free (Hardie Grant)