Brutti ma buoni {Italian hazelnut meringue cookies}

The Italians call these hazelnut and meringue cookies brutti ma buoni which means ‘ugly but delicious’ and they only have four ingredients. They are super easy to make and happen to be gluten-free. 

I have a love affair with Italian desserts and baked things that rages strongly. As with most Italian food the ingredients shine through as unnecessary components are stripped away.

Here the hazelnuts are suspended in a meringue-like biscuit that is fairly light and crispy to eat. I’m currently in Italy and the only brutti ma buoni I tried tasted nothing like these. I suspect this recipe falls under a general term like ‘Biscotti’ which essentially means twice baked and biscotti biscuits as we know are actually called cantuccini. Perhaps each region or even more specifically families have variations of what brutti ma buoni means.

I made these cookies before I left on my big food pilgrimage to Italy – which I’m currently still on, and I can’t wait to get in my kitchen on my return and start cooking and baking again. In case you were wondering why I have been posting so infrequently here lately. 

*notes ~ I used a combination of ground-up hazelnut flour as I had this on hand and have been dying to use it. I buy various nut flours and store them in my freezer which prevents them from going rancid. I then used 45gms of toasted hazelnuts which I roughly chopped. If you can’t get hold of hazelnut flour just use the total weight in hazelnuts and chop about half to two-thirds very finely. 

I have seen recipes that use a combination of almond and hazelnut so either will work well.

A few of my other popular cookie/biscuit recipes:

Vanilla snap biscuits (a delicious little cookie)

Whipped vanilla shortbread

Espresso chocolate chip cookies

White chocolate, cranberry and macadamia cookies

The recipe makes about 20

Brutti ma buoni

Brutti ma buoni or chocolate hazelnut meringue cookies are an Italian classic and so easy to make with only 4 ingredients

Print Recipe

Prep Time:15 minutes mins

Cook Time:30 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 2 egg whites
• 150 gm castor sugar
• 125 gm toasted hazelnuts chopped - or 80gm hazelnut flour and 45gm hazelnuts
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
•  

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 150C
• Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
• Beat the egg whites with an electric beater until stiff peaks. Slowly add the castor sugar and carry on beating until the mix is glossy. Sift the cocoa powder over the meringue and gently fold the hazelnuts through.
• Drop spoonfuls on a baking tray allowing some space between them and bake for spreading. You can go with smaller or slightly bigger cookies but make a tablespoon I would say. 
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until firm and slightly golden.
• Cool on a wire rack before eating (they will crisp up as they cool). Store in an airtight container.

Notes

You can use a combination of hazelnut flour (if you have) and chopped roasted hazelnuts. 

Freshly roasted hazelnuts are always better

Servings: 20

Author: Sam Linsell

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