Hi all. I’m publishing this post from Paris!!!

After my recent semifreddo post I still have a few things up my sleeve whilst on a bit of an Italian tangent. One of them is amaretti, a delectable meringue based cookie that’s not only easy to make but delicious to boot. Interestingly, when I put amaretti into Google translate from Italian to English it gives me “macaroon” (like our coconut macaroon). There’s also amaretti morbidi which translates to “soft macaroon”. If I translate macaron from Italian to French, Italian to English, French to Italian, English to either French or Italian it all comes out as macaron. Curious, eh?

Let’s just say that the word “macaroon” for me will forever mean the coconut one that many Americans know and love. Otherwise “macaron” goes for anything almond-meringue-y-like, whether it be French, Italian or some other nationality.

Amaretti’s ingredients are indeed very similar to those of French macarons, the ever popular colorful sandwich treats, save for the fact they contain a bit of wheat flour in addition to almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, egg whites and nuts. The process is less fussy than the classic macaron and the batter comes together quickly. No resting times or waiting or special mixing methods. I like that.

Here’s a bit of back story.

I purchased this book back in March, 2010 while I was in Paris for a month or so. I was taking French language classes at L’Alliance Français, attended a croissant class at Le Notre, went to Mulhouse to visit my friend Misato, attended the civil ceremony for friend Val’s marriage - all good stuff. That was the year of the volcanic eruption in Iceland - my return home was delayed a few days so I was able to tack on a day trip to Giverny (lovely!) and a small group tour of a well known Paris pastry shop showing us the ins and outs of macaron making. Sometimes it pays to have travel plans change!

What attracted me to the book was not only the inclusion of assortments of petite treats (love ‘em all!) like choux, tartelettes, sablés, meringues and small cakes such as moelleux and financiers but also instructions/patterns for making your own boxes (I loved shopping at BHV in their craft/paper department).

**A lovely assortment of biscuits from the book’s pages**

My notes on a number of the recipes I tested indicate that I had made these pistachio amaretti (as well as the box to contain them) to take along to a celebration at Val’s parents’ home after the civil ceremony. Even though the book is in French, the amaretti are truly Italian in nature.

Here’s the process: in a medium bowl blend 150 g / 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar, 100 g / 1 cup almond flour, 30 g / 1 ounce either lightly toasted/cooled, chopped pistachios or crushed sliced almonds and 50 g / slightly mounded 1/3 cup all purpose flour.

In a separate bowl whisk two large egg whites to soft peaks then fold gently into the above ingredients in 2-3 additions. While the recipe calls for blending in a tablespoon of pistachio paste, I added just a bit of extra ground pistachios instead - it worked just fine. As you see below, the batter is rather rough and tumble.

Scoop small boules onto a parchment lined sheet pan - I use a tablespoon sized scoop - and roll in additional confectioner’s sugar. Yield should be around 25-30 small cookies.

Press a pistachio half in the center of each cookie.

Bake at 300º F for about 20 minutes, rotating the tray half way through.

Let cool and enjoy! They have a delightfully crisp exterior and chewy interior. They’ll be fine in a container in the fridge for a number of days, although I tend to freeze them and pop out a few to enjoy when the mood strikes. They’ll remain very happy in there for several weeks.

I’ll be back again in a while - enjoy autumn!

**florist shop sidewalk display in Paris**

I first wrote about Thomas Keller’s version of this pastry back in February of 2015 - many moons ago - and a lot has happened since, that’s for sure. I’ve been churning this through my mind for awhile and decided that autumn is a good time to write about it.

Some time back, earlier in the pandemic days, I received an email from a gentleman in NYC who was searching for tips on how to create a version of craquelin that he used to enjoy at one of François Payard’s pâtisseries (closed for several years now). He described it as having the perfect crunchy almond top that gave the orange scented brioche just the right je ne sais quoi.

Hurray! I had a project to research. Challenge accepted. I’ve puttered with it on and off and am finally getting around to setting pen to paper as it were.

I made two different versions in my quest to replicate his memory of this treat. The first made three full sized rounds in well buttered cake pans (I had two 9-inch and one 8-inch).

The process: using my freshly prepared base brioche dough, I mixed 100 g / 1/2 cup of brown sugar with a bunch of orange zest (probably 3 or 4 oranges - I eyeball it) . . . .

sprinkled half of it over the flattened dough . . . .

folded it in three as I attempted to work the filling into the dough, turned it 90 degrees, stretched it back out a bit, sprinkled the second half over it and folded it in thirds one more time.

Then into the fridge covered for an overnight rise.

Here it is the next morning.

I divided the dough into three pieces, about 400 g each ( a tad more for the two 9-inch and a tad less for the 8-inch), formed rounds and placed them in the prepped pans. Note the aluminum foil wrapped around the 9-inch pans. They have removable bottoms so I wanted to avoid any butter leakage during baking.

Cover with lightly buttered plastic wrap and let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours. Remember brioche is very enriched and requires a good rise for the hoped for fluffy and light end result.

Toward the end of the rise heat the oven to 350ºF.

I used three topping variations just for comparison’s sake. Have some toasted sliced almonds at the ready. Make the crunchy sugar topping by blending 6 tablespoons granulated sugar with 1.5 teaspoons vanilla and 1 tablespoon water (this is enough for the three pans).

Drizzle about a third of the sugar mixture over each brioche. I left one without further adornment, topped one with sliced almonds and the third with both sliced almonds and some crushed raw sugar cubes.

Bake 35-40 minutes, rotating pans half way through, until nicely golden brown.

Let sit about 10 minutes before un-molding and placing on racks to finish cooling.

I must say all were pretty tasty, but, being a sucker for crunchiness, I really enjoyed the sugar drizzle/almond/crushed sugar cube version.

The crumb was light and nicely flavored with the orange zest.

OK good! Now on to the second version for which I followed Joanne Chang’s approach from her book “Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe”.

I knew that Joanne had worked at Payard’s in NYC back in the beginning of her baking career, so what did I do? I sent her an email asking about the process they had used! She kindly directed me to her book (link above) which I found at our local library and delved into the steps.

A few differences: individual brioche, adding candied orange rind (like Keller does) with crushed raw sugar and a slightly different topping. I can do this.

Thin slice two oranges and poach the slices in simple syrup until softened and more translucent. Let them cool and drain on a wire rack then chop into small pieces. You can do this ahead and hold in the fridge for several days if need be.

I had about a cup of rind in the end. Crush raw sugar cubes to yield about 1/2 cup of rough pieces.

For a yield of nine ~ 80 g portions: using 720 g of cold brioche dough after its overnight fridge rise, roll the dough into an approximately 10” (25 cm) by 18” (45 cm) rectangle.