Amaretti Gelato

I once had a friend who liked to say she “didn’t like crunchy with her smooth”. I must admit, I love crunchy with my smooth. I also love Amaretti so this silky smooth vanilla gelato with crunchy bits of amaretti are a symphony of texture and flavor in my mouth. I hope you agree.

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• Lazzaroni Amaretti Cookies https://amzn.to/3jJkoET

• mesh sieve https://amzn.to/3jN1MUA

• my favorite ice cream/gelato maker https://amzn.to/3KPyFvO

• budget ice cream/gelato maker https://amzn.to/3uM56ph

• pure vanilla bean paste https://amzn.to/3LtVPr1

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Amaretti Gelato

makes 6 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 960g cups whole milk (4 cups)

• 120g egg yolks (about 6)

• 300g granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla bean paste

• 150g amaretti cookies, crumbled

• additional amaretti crumbles for serving

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar; set aside.

2. In a 6-quart or larger sauce pan, bring milk to a boil; remove from heat.

3. Quickly whisk about 1/4 of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, then pour the egg and milk mixture into the saucepan that contains the remaining hot milk.

4. Return saucepan to heat and bring back to a boil; boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

5. Strain mixture through a fine sieve and stir in vanilla bean paste; cool completely in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, but 24 hours is best (don’t add the crumbled amaretti cookies yet).

6. Process the chilled gelato base in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions; add crumbled amaretti a couple of minutes before churning is complete.

Notes

• Use a larger saucepan that you think you’ll need because boiling milk will easily boil over the sides of a smaller saucepan.

• For extra crunch, serve with extra crumbled amaretti.

adapted from Lazzaroni Amaretti

Italian Almond Paste Cookies (Paste di Mandorla)

Paste di Mandorla or Italian Almond Paste Cookies are a traditional Sicilian cookie. They’re soft and chewy and full of delicious almond flavor. Super easy to make too.

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• digital scale https://amzn.to/3dFMMoo

• large piping bags https://amzn.to/3Ev5iLy

• large star piping tube https://amzn.to/3nLr9Yn

• silpat nonstick baking mat https://amzn.to/3muHp0l

• almond flour https://amzn.to/3WmnjFP

• pure vanilla extract https://amzn.to/3ovS9fE

• pure almond extract https://amzn.to/34DcoBp

• glace, glazed, or candied cherries https://amzn.to/3hBMKmW

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Italian Almond Paste Cookies (Paste di Mandorla)

Makes 24 cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 250 grams almond flour, sifted

• 150 grams confectioner’s sugar, sifted

• pinch of salt

• 3 egg whites

• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 12 maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half (or glace, glazed, or candied cherries)

Directions

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, and salt; set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites, almond extract, and vanilla extract until very frothy (no liquid egg white in the bottom of the bowl).

3. Immediately stir the frothy egg whites into the almond flour mixture until a thick paste forms and no traces of dry ingredients remain (this can be done in a food processor too).

4. Transfer the cookie dough to a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip.

5. Pipe the cookie dough into 2-inch swirls (as shown) on silpat-lined half sheet pans, and press a cherry half into the center of each cookie.

6. Chill cookie dough for an hour before baking (or freeze for 20 minutes).

7. Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in center of oven.

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cookies brown on the edges; allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Notes

• Almond meal may be used in place of almond flour. You can also make almond flour by grinding blanched almonds in a food processor until until finely ground.

• Sheet pans can be lined with parchment instead of a silpat liners, but the parchment is more difficult to pipe the sticky cookie dough onto.

• Glace, Glazed, or Candied cherries can be used in place of maraschino cherries.