Eat, Pray, Love Party: Italy

As promised, here is part 1 of my Eat, Pray, Love party series...Italy! For the Italian food, I made meatballs in spaghetti sauce (both TOP-SECRET family recipes), bruschetta (add some balsamic vinegar and garlic to the topping, and just toast the bread by itself, then top with raw topping), and amaretti cookies. These little guys were quite the hit! And the whole recipe is made in your food processor...it really doesn't get any easier than that! Check out the recipe below...


Amaretti Cookies (from Simply Recipes)

• 2 1/2 c. almond flour
• 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar, plus more for dusting
  
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. almond extract

In a food processor, pulse together the almond flour and 1 1/4 c. sugar until combined. Add the extracts, and pulse a few more times. Add in the egg whites, one at a time, processing until the dough is smooth.

Scoop out the dough (I used my smallest cookie scoop--about 2 tsp.) onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle with additional granulated sugar. If you like them in pretty little balls, leave as-is. If you prefer a flatter cookie, now would be an excellent time to flatten them out a little. Bake at 300 degrees for ~25 minutes.

Note: the original recipe says to bake until golden brown...which I did, and it ended up being closer to 35-40 minutes, and my cookies were severely overcooked and somewhat dry. Blah. So, I recommend sticking to the 25 minutes, whether or not they're golden brown!