Tuesdays with Dorie: 15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon.  She chose Dorie’s 15 Minutes Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte which is located on pages 276-277 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  As soon as I saw this recipe, the first thought that went through my head was where was I going to get my Amaretti from.  I didn’t really have the time to make my own, but I guess I could   However, I haven’t been able to find the Amaretti that I grew up with, Lazzaroni Amaretti Di Saronno.  When I was in college there was a specialty food store that actually carried them but since I moved I couldn’t find them.  Those are the amaretti that made me want to learn how to make them, and the recipe I have actually is very close to the same flavor.

I did what any girl would do and I turned to Amazon.com 🙂  I was looking at all the different sizes that I could buy.  I ended up going for the 16 oz container.  I was actually really close to buying the 14.1 oz because that was the size container that my parents had when I was a kid.  I remember going to the restaurant back home in Texas that would give you Lazzaroni Amaretti Di Saronno cookies any time you purchased a coffee. One time the waiter actually showed us the trick where you can light the wrapper and it will float into the air.  I still haven’t figure out how to do it.  I usually light it on fire and it sits on the plate and is ash a second later 🙂

This Chocolate Amaretti Torte was awesome.  It reminded me of the texture and richness of a flourless chocolate cake.  The amaretti cookies and ground almonds gave it a nice clean almond flavor.  The chocolate glaze made it a little sweet but the almond whipped cream mellowed out the crazy chocolatey goodness.  I would definately make this again because it was easy and tasted fantastic.  I decided to decorate the torte with whipped cream stars and put two amaretti cookies in the center.

I forgot to say that I didn’t grind my own almonds.  I actually had some ground almonds in my freezer and just used those 🙂 The spots in the glaze are actually some of the sugar crystals that feel off the cookies while I was putting them on the cake.  It almost looks like the picture was messed up 🙂