Italian almond cookies, known as “amaretti,” are the most perfect little cookies with the perfect balance between crisp and chewy and the most intense, most beutiful almond flavor.
You can make our Amaretti recipe with simple ingredients, without eggs and butter, to suit vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diets.
This centuries-old dessert will make your travel to Italy, where this recipe is on most families’ tables, especially during festive occasions, next to a small cup of espresso.
Table of Contents
Dietary Note: this recipe is suitable for a vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diet. It’s low in cholesterol and saturated fats.
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What are Italian almond cookies?
Italian almond cookies, also known as amaretti, are small cookies made with almond flour, sugar, and a few other simple ingredients.
They are often served after a special meal around the winter holidays, alongside other seasonal cookies like Ricciarelli, biscotti, and red wine cookies.
Italian almond cookies are unique in their irresistible texture: the perfect balance of crisp and chewy with a bold almond flavor.
Their sweet flavor makes them perfect to be enjoyed next to a small cup of strong Italian espresso.
This blog post shows you how to make almond cookies without eggs.
Our simple recipe yields a cookie that is every bite as delicious as the ones I ate growing up with my Italian family.
Ingredients and substitutions for Italian almond cookies
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
Aquafaba
We use aquafaba, the water found in a can of chickpeas, as a replacement for egg whites in this recipe.
Thanks to its foaming properties, it makes the perfect egg white replacement.
Almond flour
It’s best to use store-bought almond flour for the best vegan almond cookies.
Homemade almond flour from ground almonds can be tricky to use for this recipe. Often, it’s too coarse, and the cookies won’t hold their shape.
Sugar
We use white granulated sugar or caster sugar.
Almond extract
You can use almond extract or, more traditionally, amaretto liqueur to boost the almond flavor.
Vanilla extract
To complement the almond extract.
Powdered sugar
Sprinkle on top of the cookies.
Baking powder
We use a small amount, just enough to help them rise.
Tip
Amaretti are consumed mostly during winter and the Christmas period in Italy.
They are generally eaten at the end of a meal or as a snack in the middle of the afternoon.
If you eat them after a meal, they are best served with a glass of sweet wine or warm plant milk on the side.
As the Italian tradition says, the cookies and biscuits are typically served on an abundant tray of cookies and accompanied by other types of Italian sweets.
In many homes, they are also eaten for breakfast, mid-morning, and afternoon snacks at any time!
Storage
Our vegan amaretti keep fresh for up to a week if stored well in an airtight container in a dry corner of your kitchen.
You could stretch the storage time to two weeks, but the cookies will get drier.
In this case, you can warm them slightly in the oven before serving them.
More Italian desserts
- Vegan custard
- Strawberry tart
- Vegan brioche
- Biscotti
- Orange almond cookies
- Easy apple cake
- Pear cake
- Vegan cannoli
- Wine cookies
For more dessert ideas, please have a look at our 40 + vegan dessert recipes.
Italian Almond Cookies
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour store-bought
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
Wet ingredients
- 2 tablespoons aquafaba this is the water in a can of chickpeas
- ½ tablespoon amaretto liqueur or almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
You'll also need
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix 1 cup almond flour, ⅓ cup sugar, ½ cup powdered sugar, and ½ tsp baking powder.
- In a separate bowl, add 2 tablespoons aquafaba making sure there are no chickpea pieces in the water.
- With a hand mixer, beat the aquafaba as if it were egg whites.It should turn into a firm foam.
- Scoop the foam into the bowl with the dry ingredients.With a spatula, incorporate it into the dry ingredients, mixing gently with a circular movement from bottom to top.
- Add ½ tablespoon amaretto liqueur and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract to the mix and keep incorporating gently until you get a paste/dough.
- Put 3 tablespoons powdered sugar on a plate. Take 20 grams to 23 grams of dough, and shape it into small balls.Each ball should weigh between 20 and 23 grams. This is important, or else they won't cook properly.Roll one ball at a time on the plate with the powdered sugar until they are fully coated.
- Shake away the excess powdered sugar, then place the balls on a plate and let them rest in the freezer for 45 minutes.Note: if you don't have time, you can try to bake them straight away, but their shape might not hold when heated up in the oven. Preheat the oven to 340°F or 170°C.
- Place the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 340°F or 170°C for about 15 minutes. The cooking time depends a lot on the oven, so keep an eye on them. They are ready when they start cracking on top. Take them out of the oven and let them cool down for about 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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I’ve made these 3 times, & each time they’ve turned out different, but DELICIOUS! I think a lot depended on the quality of ingredients available from different supermarkets (mostly chick pea liquid & almond flour). Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
Hi, thanks for this recipe, it worked a treat. I made these and the wine cookies for a meal with friends – they couldn’t get enough of them, they were so yummy.
I’d never used chickpea liquid before… heard about it and was amazed how like egg white it looked after whisking.
Hi Lindsey,
That sounds like a fantastic cookie-feast you had with your friends!! Amazing 🎉
I’m delighted you liked them, it’s quite amazing what chickpea water can do 😉
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!
All the best,
Louise
These turned out great for me. I doubled the recipe, used my kitchen scale, and was extra careful in the folding step not to flatten the air. They came out beautifully.
Hi Nicole, thanks so much for your message. I am so happy they turned out great! This is probably the most difficult recipe on our blog, so really well done 🙂
I made these exactly how the recipe described. They turned out perfectly!
Hi Mariah, thanks so much for your message. We are so happy they turned out perfectly! Thanks for letting us know 🙂
I’ve just tried this recipe and the result was a complete mess. I beated the acquafaba untill it formed stiff peaks (when I put the bowl upside down nothing fell from it). Each biscuits I made weighed 20g and I let them rest for almost an hour in the freezer. After 10 minutes since I popped them in the oven they collapsed and melted down all together. I don’t understand what went wrong. That was a real disappointment, waste of time, food and money.
Hi Ambra, I am sorry the almond cookies didn’t turn out well. I am sure you didn’t do anything wrong, it is a tricky recipe, with a lot of variables. It could be the type of almond flour (it needs to be very fine), or the dusting with the powdered sugar, or the temperature and type of the oven (it should be static, not ventilated). But thanks for the feedback, I’ll try to add more tips in the blog post. Ps. if you haven’t thrown them out already, the collapsed cookies taste great crumbled on top of vegan vanilla icecream.
Why throw them out??? I never never throw anything out notwithstandin how ugly etc they are. Even if burnt I scrape off the burnt part and consume.