Italian Amaretti Cookies

These are by far one of my most favorite cookies.I love going to italian weddings and bridal showers because theres always tons of these delicious chewy cookies. This recipe was taken from a blog called Sweet Pea. I also LOVE pistachio ammaretti, substitute 1 1/2 cups almonds for ground pistachios

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 24

Ingredients

• 3  cups  ground almonds (almond meal)
• 2  cups sugar
• 4  eggs
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  pure  almond essence
• 1  tablspoon amaretto liqueur (optional)
•  icing sugar for dusting the top of the  cookie
•  almonds or   pistachios for tops  cookie

Directions

1. 1.Position the oven rack so that it is at the bottom of the oven.
2. 2.Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).
3. 3.Check that your ground almonds are as fine as possible. You can always pass them through a blender to make sure.
4. 4.In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds, salt and sugar, mixing well with a fork.
5. 5.Next mix in the eggs (all at once – no need to beat in advance), and almond essence.
6. 6.Line two cookie sheet with baking paper, and using a tablespoon, make round balls of cookie dough and place them on the baking sheet (leaving 2cm of space between each).Press either an almond or pistachio onto thetop of ech cookie.
7. 7.Cook for 10 minutes on the lowest rack in the oven, then move the rack to the middle of the oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.Leave to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes.
8. 8.Using a small sieve, sprinkle each cookie with a light dust of powder (icing) sugar.