25 Days of Cookies: Amaretti

These cookies were nearly a HUGE failure. 24 Cookies and the 24th was the first to give me problems! I was  mortified! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

What are they? Amaretti cookies from Cooking Light and they only had 5 ingredients! It seemed like a perfect fix for such a busy day. My dad's side of the family was supposed to be joining us for dinner but extenuating circumstances changed those plans. I didn't know that would be the case when I got up at 8:00 this morning to start cooking for dinner.

These are crunchy and sweet almond cookies, oh and they're completely gluten-free! They have great flavor but I think the instructions were a little unclear. If you try to move these cookies before they are room-temp on the inside and out, the bottoms will literally rip off.

I've never had a cookie stick to parchment paper before today but these cookies proved it was possible. My first batch was a bottomless failure.

Not to mention, I got a phone call from a good friend who I haven't seen in a while. It's her birthday and she's coming home for Christmas!! Excited to hear from her, I was distracted and instead of setting the timer for 5 minutes, I just turned the oven light on...I have no idea how long those cookie were in the oven for before my half-way rotation. I kept an eye on them and when they were browned around the edges, as described in the directions, I took them out but...

The bottoms ripped right off after I let them cool. Apparently they needed to cool for a lot longer than I realized.

Despite being essentially "ass-less", these cookies have a wonderful almond flavor from the almond paste and the addition of Amaretto (almond flavored liqueur). My grandfather didn't mind one bit that the bottoms were missing from the first batch.

My second batch was a success so here are my words of wisdom regarding this recipe: take them out of the oven after they have browned a bit on the tops and not just the edges then forget about them on the tray while they cool. They will still be stickier than most cookies and might not come away as cleanly as others do from the parchment paper but your bottoms won't remain on the paper.

And don't be scared by the runny consistency of this cookie "dough" when you scoop and place on the cookie sheets. There is no flour to stiffen the dough with but this doesn't adversely affect the cookie!

Oh! And "turbinado sugar" is Sugar In The Raw. The recipe calls for a 1/4 cup of this less processed sugar for the tops of the cookies but if you have packets, just use one packet at a time. Because I certainly didn't use all 12 packets worth of sugar that I opened one by one to get exactly 1/4 cup's worth.