15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte
It really was only 15 minutes to get this torte in the oven! Quite by accident I noticed the time when I started and went about putting the ingredients together at a casual pace and as I popped it in the oven I noticed the clock had advanced exactly 15 minutes – magic!
The reality behind the “magic” of this recipe is the food processor; it’s so darn quick. Don’t worry, the exquisitely rich, dense chocolate result never lets on that it was easy to make. You would think that with a torte that only took 15 minutes to make I would have had this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie result posted in a timely manner, but here it is Wednesday. Let’s just say I was distracted by its deliciousness.
The Amaretti cookies are the flavor backbone of this torte with their distinct sweet almond-apricot flavor really shining against the bittersweet chocolate. Though good quality cookies like the D. Lazzaroni brand are expensive, they really deliver the unique Amaretti cookie flavor that makes this torte so wonderful.
The biggest risk with flourless chocolate cakes is dryness, which makes for a crushingly disappointing dessert experience. Part of why this torte was so good is because it was extremely moist and tender. The ground cookies and ground almonds also added a nice texture. The torte plates up as an impressive dessert and seems like a fancy thing to serve, but the reality is you can also eat it out of hand because the slices are sturdy. Merging hobbies, I used my triangle cutting skills developed through quilt making to cut parchment wraps for individual slices. I loaded them in a plastic container and passed them out to my kickball team after our first game. Not fancy, but still really tasty!
Thank you to Holly of Phe/MOM/enon for picking the recipe for this week and rekindling my love of Amaretti cookies. The recipe is posted on Holly’s blog if you have a spare 15 minutes and want to do some baking.
I, along with over 350 other baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 69 recipes completed 152 to go!
All photos by David Peterman unless otherwise noted
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:26 am
i’d say that’s pretty fancy for post-kickball snacking! looks delicious!!
April 15th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I just love your blog. I wish I could just walk into the pictures!
April 15th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Your torte looks wonderful. Wasn’t it delicious?!
April 15th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Beautiful torte. Looks really moist and fudgey. Love how you ‘wrapped’ them. Great job.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Oh, I’ll bet that torte – with the beautiful wrapping – was a bit hit with the kickers. Your torte is simply perfection; love that first picture. And how gracious of you to casually notice the time; I was very deliberate about setting that timer!
Nancy
April 16th, 2009 at 4:27 am
I think your torte looks gorgeous. You always have such amazing presentation!
April 16th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Oooh, so pretty! I’ll bet your kickball team were darned happy to find this offering. Nice work.
April 16th, 2009 at 9:09 am
I KNEW you’d be able to make this look like perfection! It is amazing!
April 16th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I have no problem believing that you were distracted by its delicisousness, although I do have my doubts! LOL
It’s nice to see your beautifully done participation though… I was kinda missing it – Love the wrapping! Gotta teach me those quilt skills… I can’t cut for the life of me! LOL
April 17th, 2009 at 4:03 am
I love the picture with them all sliced in parchment…what a lucky team
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April 17th, 2009 at 6:57 am
This was definitely a fantastic torte — and totally easy to boot! I love the individual servings with the parchment.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Carol, being allergic to dairy as I am can you suggest a possible substitute for the heavy cream called for in the recipe? Toffuti sour cream? Whipped soft tofu? Goat milk yogurt?
April 18th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Wasn’t this good? I’m glad you liked it…and I like your presentation!
April 21st, 2009 at 9:32 am
Mary-
The glaze could easily be made with coconut milk or coconut cream. I think the coconut flavor would work well with the Amaretti flavor of the torte.