The most popular winner ever of British TV’s “Great British Bake Off” has two Netflix cooking series, six cookbooks and even a royal commission — she baked Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday cake — to her name. Now Nadiya Hussain has a new book out: the American version of her “Nadiya Bakes” cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $30), with more than 100 recipes for everything from Money Can’t Buy You Happiness Brownies to a French Onion and Blue Cheese Tart — and these blushing pink Raspberry Amaretti.
“Amaretti are a cookie that people seem slightly afraid to make,” Hussain says in the book. “Just because they are often found for sale in beautiful tins with crunchy cellophane and fancy bows doesn’t mean they are difficult or tricky to create at home. In fact, homemade amaretti are the best — these ones, which are soft and delicious and almondy, with a subtle hint of raspberry all the way through and a hidden raspberry in the center.”
Make them with a fresh raspberry at the center if you’re enjoying them right away, or use freeze-dried raspberries if you want them to last a bit longer.
Raspberry Amaretti Cookies
Makes about 20
INGREDIENTS
Butter, for greasing the baking sheets
4 large egg whites
1¾ cups granulated sugar
3½ cups almond meal
2/3 ounce freeze-dried raspberries, blitzed to a powder
1 teaspoon almond extract
20 small fresh raspberries (or freeze-dried)
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
DIRECTIONS
Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees and lining two large baking sheets with parchment paper, greasing them just very slightly to allow the paper to stick to the sheet and not go flying.
Now get on to making the cookie paste mixture by whisking the egg whites in a large clean bowl until they are firm. Add the sugar and fold it in gently using a spatula or metal spoon. Add the almond meal along with the blitzed-up raspberry powder and almond extract and mix thoroughly until you have an even paste.
Have the confectioners’ sugar at the ready along with the raspberries. Take a heaped tablespoon of mixture, about 1½ ounces, if you want to be precise, and shape it into a flat round disc. Wrap the disc around a raspberry to form a ball shape, pinching it together underneath so that the raspberry is completely enclosed. The paste may crack a bit along the top, but don’t worry. Repeat with the rest of the cookie paste.
Drop each ball into the confectioners’ sugar and roll around until fully and generously coated. Place seam-side down on the baking sheets, making sure they are about ¾ inch apart, as they will spread just a little.
Now bake these for 12 to 15 minutes, until they are just lightly golden. Take them out and let cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
— Reprinted from NADIYA BAKES by Nadiya Hussain. Copyright © 2020 by Nadiya Hussain. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
