I wanted to thank everybody for supporting me during the first year of my book launch of Breaking Bread in L’Aquila. It was a very exciting evening at Rizzoli to see great friends and meet new friends!

It was an honor to have two chefs from Philadelphia come to the event: Joe Cicala and restaurnt owner Le Virtu, Francis Cratil Cretarola and Cathy Lee. Check it out www.levirtu.com, they prepare authentic foods from Abruzzo! Stay tuned for a joint book event!

I served my tasty amaretti cookies – fresh out of the oven! The recipe is in my book Breaking Bread in L’Aquila. Psssst…..there’s no flour in these cookies – great treat for those friends/family members who are gluten sensitive!

Amaretti Cookies
Ingredients:

3 cups almonds, plus an additional 36
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups of confectioner’s sugar spread on 12 inches of wax paper (for rolling)
Vegetable spray for the baking sheet (though Mom sprinkles the baking sheet with flour)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Using a food processor on pulse, chop the 3 cups of almonds until they are finely ground.

Beat the eggs, sugar, and almond extract. Add the ground nuts and gently fold them together until you have a moist mixture that you can form into balls.

Lightly grease three baking sheets. Using a teaspoon (or your hand), scoop up the batter, form balls, and roll them in the confectioner’s sugar. Place them at least an inch apart on the greased baking sheet. Prior to baking, press one almond into each ball.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden in color and firm to the touch.

Let them cool before removing them from the pan.

These cookies are perfect for freezing (if they make it to the freezer)!

a presto,

maria x