Fresh or Freeze-Dried, for Now or Later: Raspberry Amaretti

I recently got a copy of Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussein and the first recipe I decided to try from the book was the "Raspberry Amaretti Cookies." They are amaretti with freeze-dried raspberry powder in the batter, and a whole fresh or freeze-dried raspberry tucked inside.

 

The recipe is straightforward. You beat egg whites until stiff; fold in sugar; and incorporate almond flour, ground freeze-dried raspberries, and almond extract. I used a #30 scoop to portion out the dough and got 22 cookies from a batch, very close to the stated yield of 20. I wanted my amaretti to have a longer shelf life, so I wrapped each portion of batter around a freeze-dried raspberry (if you use fresh fruit, the cookies should be eaten "straightaway") before coating each cookie in powdered sugar.

The cookies spread a little and developed attractive cracks during baking. The pink color of the cookie was mostly camouflaged by the powdered sugar until you bit into one and could see the interior. These cookies were terrific -- they had a nice firm crust, a very chewy interior, and a strong almond flavor with a light touch or raspberry. I was a little disappointed that the whole freeze-dried raspberry inside the cookie didn't have much impact -- and as you can see in the photo above, the raspberries ended up off to the side inside being in the center. I am tempted to see if stirring a bunch of whole freeze-dried fruit into the batter would work to boost the raspberry flavor, or perhaps just putting multiple freeze-dried raspberries in the center instead of just one. I can see how a fresh raspberry would definitely be superior flavor-wise, but I almost never have the opportunity to bake something that will be consumed right away, so it's not a practical option for me.  

Even without using fresh fruit, this dainty cookie packed a lot of flavor. And somehow the fact that it's pink made it extra adorable. I would be happy to bake these again.

 

Recipe: "Raspberry Amaretti Cookies" from Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussein, recipe available here from Food52.