One of the Italian bakeries “on the hill” here in town, Missouri Bakery, makes these cookies. These are always my favorite from among the many different types that they sell. I just knew them as macaroons, but now I know the real name for them. Marcella says the words mean ugly, but good and I can vouch for the good taste. Honestly, they don’t even seem ugly to me, but that may be because I know how good they really are.

These are very simple to make. Blanched, shelled, almonds are ground with sugar first. Then you whip egg whites until the stiff peak stage. Next, you fold the almond mixture and vanilla into the egg whites. Then you bake them for 30 minutes on a cookie pan covered in butter. Next time I will really slather on the butter, because even coating it liberally, I still had some cookies stick. Oh well, more butter can’t be a bad thing, right?
It was torture waiting for a full 30 minutes to see if I had made them correctly. The house filled with that wonderful toasted almond smell as I watched the timer slowly click down. When I opened the oven door and took them out I knew that I had a new recipe to add to my cookie repertoire.