Tuesday, April 14, 2009

TWD--Fifteen-Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

Woohoo!  Today's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe as we bake our way through her wonderful baking book, Baking From My Home To Yours was chosen by Holly at Phe/MOM/enon.  Thank you, Holly!  I made this torte yesterday and served it up for Family Home Evening.  Bob and Tes always join us on Monday nights and besides everyone having a piece, two pieces went home with them and the torte is gone.   I rejoined The Biggest Loser online program today and am proud to say I only had one little bite of Kevin's piece of this delicious chocolate torte.   And I finger licked a couple of the lovely drips of glaze that pooled on the cutting board while the torte set.   Sigh.  I wanted more.  But I refrained. 

This really was quite simple to make and so good.  I'm still finding it hard to LOVE the bittersweet chocolate taste, rather than something a little sweeter, but this was still de-licious!  I chose not to have whipped cream on top, but would have liked a little almond extract in the glaze.  It was rich and we didn't think it needed whipped cream or anything else.  GREAT pick here from Holly.  You can get this awesome recipe on Holly's blog, Phe/MOM/enon.  Browse around her blog if you've never been there, she's "phenomenal" and so are all her yummy posts!

Oh, oh, I almost forgot.  I made homemade Amaretti cookies for this!  I could only picture these cookies on Giada's Food Network shows and I know they were darker in color and I never thought they were so meringue-like, but I went with it anyway, rather than searching high and low in the "little" town we live in and also having never seen this torte of Dorie's before, I don't even know if it looks "correct", but it doesn't really matter.  We all liked it--even Kevin! ; )   And instead of baking this in an 8 inch round pan, I used a springform pan because that is the only pan I have that is 8 inches.  And for the record, I didn't set the pan on a baking sheet either.  I baked it for 27 minutes.

DSCF2177

The Amaretti cookie recipe I used, after searching the internet and looking at several recipes--all of which were different from each other--was a recipe I found on Martha Stewart's website and when I saw that it was a Mario Batali recipe, I decided you can't go wrong with him!  I followed the recipe completely, but decided not to sprinkle them with extra sugar.  They look a little different from the picture on Martha's site, but they were crisp and almond-y so I called it good.  I didn't read some of the P&Q's until writing this to see that Dorie suggested 2.75 oz. of cookies in place of the suggested Amaretti di Saronno ones.  I just used 18 cookies since mine were small.  I have no idea how much they weighed.

I took a bunch of pictures of the torte in process, but for some reason the color was way off on my camera and they don't look that great.  BUT, when it really mattered, I got some nice shots of the finished product.

Chocolate Amaretti Torte, anyone?

DSCF2204 

Just a small slice?  Okay.

DSCF2207  

I actually wanted everyone to have a good size piece because I wanted the thing eaten and gone! ; )

DSCF2214

Thanks again, Holly.  This month IS gonna kill me.  Two more weeks and two more very chocolaty, NOT "light" desserts coming up.  I am gonna stick to this Biggest Loser thing and plan to only have a bite of each.  Sigh. 

I wanted to mention a quick THANKS to everyone who visits my blogs and comments, especially on Tuesdays.  I really enjoy this  TWD group and find it hard with all the other things I do, i.e.--BOYS and such, to get to all the blogs I want to see and comment on.  Just know that I do throughout the week get over to a lot and at least peek at what ya'll have been doing! ; )

36 comments:

Amanda said...

Looks fabulous! I loved this torte :)

Pamela said...

Looks delicious! The glaze on top looks simply amazing. Good luck on your weight loss journey!!

Teanna said...

Look at you making homemade amaretto cookies! I am impressed! The torte looks fantastic!

I only do the one bite of each dessert thing as well and rely on my boyfriend to eat the rest! It stinks, but it is worth not gaining any weight!

vibi said...

OH! HOOOooooOO! Mario's amaretti cookies... hummm... must have been really yummy indeed, with those!

Very courageous to have made your own amaretti! Very nicely done, Katrina!

chocolatechic said...

Oh, and you added some vegetables just like Paula Deen does on her desserts.

I love it.

TeaLady said...

You made your own cookies. Good for you. Podunk, USA doesn't have them either, but then I didn't get to make the cake anyway. And good for you to eat just one bite. Talk about willpower. It is so hard to loose weight, but I am on the journey with you. Good luck.

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

This looks delicious! Good job making your own cookies. I thought about it... Good luck with the biggest loser. I seriously need to be doing something like that as well.

Megan said...

Good luck with your new journey - I didn't know there was an online program for that show.

Anyways - I can't believe you made those cookies, now I feel like a slacker for using store bought!

Heather said...

Looks great, and the mint sprig is the perfect garnish. Good job on the homemade cookies!

Kara said...

Oh nice job on the torte and the cookies. I thought about making my own, but decided that was too much work this week.

I have decided that I'm going to have to start making 1/2 recipes of some things. I have already gained a few pounds from having leftovers laying around, so cutting things in 1/2 and taking the rest to work seems to be the way to go!

noble pig said...

Sin on a plate...I am in love...wow...just awesome.

Anonymous said...

That glaze looks amazing. Mine was a grainy mess.

Anonymous said...

Your torte looks fantastic. I love that you made your own cookies.

Soy*Baby said...

Kudos to you for making your own amaretti cookies. I'm also not a huge fan of bittersweet chocolate but really like this torte.

Leslie said...

This looks amazing! How in the world do you find enough time to make your own amaretti cookies with four kids? I only have a cat and I'm time challenged!

PheMom said...

Your torte looks perfectly rockin' to me! I love that you made the cookies yourself and they look fab too! I wish I could have come to your FHE! So fun! Thanks so much for baking with me this week!

Heather said...

Great job! Good for you for making your own Amaretti cookies.

Kayte said...

I think your torte is fantastic...you really really nailed this one completely. Gorgeous. And making your own cookies...that just puts it over the top! Great job!

Anonymous said...

It looks great. Good luck with your willpower!

Peggy said...

this torte was delicious. I am impressed you made your own cookies. And good luck on the weight loss!

Eliana said...

What an amazing looking torte. You did a great job with this.

Unknown said...

Great photos! I couldn't get a good shot of this one for the life of me. I'm so impressed that you only had one bite :)

farah said...

Your amaretti and torte look delicious! I know exactly what you mean, i find it hard catching up with things with my two boys. I can't imagine how it must be with four. You are obviously doing a great job :)

angela@spinachtiger said...

I too take just one bite. Okay, I took two bites of this. I made my own cookies too, but I think you made the ones closer to what it was supposed to be. I made biscotti.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm! That looks fabulously decadent.

Cathy said...

Wow - you made your own cookies! I guess that took it out of the "15 minute" realm, but still worth it! Your torte looks perfect! I actually threw about half of mine in the freezer, and liked it best frozen! I am so impressed by your "one bite" restraint, but I guess that is the key to doing TWD without gaining weight!

Jennifer said...

You have so much will power! I'm impressed. I had a thin slice, then another thin slice, then another thin slice.

mike said...

Great job on the weight - your torte looks fabulous. Love the mint leaves - such a nice touch!

Jin Hooi said...

looks great , well done honey !!

Liz said...

Hey, I'm LDS too! Holla!

Mad props for making the cookies for the torte! That's like 2 baking projects in one. Your torte looks great, and congratulations on sticking to your diet in the face of delicious temptation.

margot said...

Great pictures! I think it would be hard to take just one bite of such a yummy dessert, very impressive

Elyse said...

OH MY GOSH. Katrina, I'm amazed that you only took 1 bite. I mean, this torte looks fabulous. Just fabulous! Oh man, sooo chocolatey. And your amaretti cookies are just precious!

Susan @ SGCC said...

Your torte looks beautiful! I like my chocolate a little sweeter too, but this torte was great. Kudos on making your own amaretti too! Well done!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

So I'm guessing yours took a little more than 15 m, if you had to make your own amaretti! The torte looks sooooo good, You were so good to only have a little piece!

Mermaid Sews said...

Wow, can't believe you made the cookies and the torte and had to refrain - well done on all accounts. Good luck with your program.

Shari said...

I've never made homemade amaretti cookies! I'm impressed!