Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

(Whew! Right under the gun! *wink*)

Holly of Phe/MOM/enon chose the "15 Minute Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte" for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Holly explains, "I chose the Chocolate Amaretti Torte for a few reasons: (1) My recipe choice had to be chocolate, of course; (2) I wanted to choose something that had no photo in the book, so that we could have the chance to all make it together; (3) Did I mention my need for chocolate... oh, yeah, I did; (4) I have never heard of making something like this, so I was completely intrigued."

And, was she satisfied? "Absolutely. I couldn't find the cookies Dorie suggests, but thankfully, she said you can use most any brand with great results. The torte is chocolate and almond, combined at their very best. You can use the torte for a hot fudge sundae, as Dorie suggests, or to make mini tortes, like I did. I used three 5-inch paper pans to make my tortes.

All in all, it's a fool-proof recipe...simply crush amaretti cookies and almonds in a food processor & remove; then cream butter, eggs, & sugar in the processor; finally, add the crushed mixture and melted chocolate & pulse until it's all smooth. Bake. Cool. Glaze with mixtue of chocolate and hot cream, sugar, & water. Top with a sprinkling of sliced almonds (my addition).

I couldn't find Italian amaretti cookies (or ANY amaretti cookies for that matter), but I didn't look very hard. Most people were able to find them at Whole Foods, World Market, and even Starbuck's. And, even though I was just at a Whole Foods on Saturday, I completely forgot I needed those cookies. So, I used ginger snaps instead.

Someone on the TWD blog suggested that the ginger might overpower the almond flavor, so I used a "heaping amount" of the almonds that the recipe called for. You could definately taste the almonds in the cake, and the ginger snaps gave it a nice little kick of spice that wasn't overpowering at all. I can imagine, though, that using amaretti cookies instead would intensify the overall almondness.