Amaretti flan (also known as Bônet) is a typical dessert of Piedmont made with amaretti and ladyfingers (savoiardi) with milk, cocoa, eggs and sugar. There are a lot of variants of this recipe. For example the addition of coffee, nuts or grated orange peel. This recipe uses amaretti cookies and coffee liquor. Whatever variant you choose, this is easy to make dessert and tastes great.

Ingredients:

Flan
2 cups whole milk
5 oz granulated sugar
5 oz amaretti cookies
1 ¼ oz cocoa powder
4 eggs
4 Tbs. coffee liquor

For caramel
3 oz water
1/2 lb granulated sugar
1 Tbs. corn syrup

Direction:

Preheat an oven to 325°F. Have a pot of boiling water ready.

In a heavy saucepan, preferably copper, over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup and bring to a boil, stirring only a few times, until the syrup is clear. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, without stirring, until the syrup begins to darken – the syrup starts to color. This will take about 5 to 10 minutes. The caramelizing process is quick, and the syrup can burn easily.

Immediately pour the caramel into a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan, and distribute the caramel evenly over the bottom. Set aside the cake pan.

In a bowl beat eggs and the remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Crush the amaretti macaroons to small pieces. Mix crushed amaretti cookies and cocoa powder with eggs and sugar. Stir in milk and the coffee liquor, and pour the mixture into the caramel-coated cake pan.

Pour boiling water to a depth of 1 inch into the baking pan. Bake the prepared flan, uncovered for about 1 hour, until the flan is just set and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven, remove the flan and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Leave the flan to set in a refrigerator covered with plastic wrap for at least 6 hours or up to a day.

To unmold, run a thin knife around the inside edge of the cake pan. Place a serving plate with a rim over the top and invert the plate and flan together. Lift off the cake pan carefully.

Decorate the flan with amaretti cookies before serving. Serves 8 to 10.

Adapted from: Lidia’s Italian Table by Lidia Bastianich, Harpercollins Publishers.

Note: The recipes on this site are my original creations or have been adapted from existing recipes with the original sources attributed. All recipes on this site have been tested at least once in my kitchen. Any and all errors are entirely mine.

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