Julia Riley’s Amaretti Mezzi Bacci

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This recipe was passed to me by a great friend and fellow mezzo, Anna Stephany. She made them for me when we lived opposite each other, when we both were soloists at Zurich Opernhaus. I stole the recipe and added a few twists to it, but we were often found eating these addictive little bites on one of our cosy balconies with a cup of Yorkshire tea. Whenever I make these, I think of the laughs Anna and I had and the swims we would enjoy in our local lake, overlooked by snow-capped mountains. I’ve continued to adapt the recipe and I find this is a great biscotti to have in your cupboard, send to friends, or arrive at a party with. It travels well!

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I use cups as they are easy to travel with in your suitcase.

1 cup ground almond

1 cup caster sugar

2 egg whites

1 tsp almond natural extract

A pinch of salt

Zest of a lemon

Icing sugar

1/2 cup Dark chocolate

Makes 32 small biscotti, but I double the recipe to make the double biscotti with the chocolate filling.

•Preheat oven to 160c

•Line 2 baking trays (but no need to grease them)

•Chuck sugar, ground almond, almond ex, salt and lemon zest in a bowl & mix well

•In a 2nd bowl, whisk the egg whites until they hold mini mountain peaks

•Fold egg whites in to the almond mix, to form a paste.

•Form small balls and roll in icing sugar

•Once on a tray, gently dent each almond ball

•Bake for 13-16 mins, or until light gold

•Remove from oven and leave to cool

•Melt chocolate over water, put a small dollop on the flat side of a biscotti, and stick the another (flat side) biscotti.