Brutti ma buoni

You have to love the Italians for these. The name translates to "ugly but good" which is an accurate enough description.

To those scared off by dessert and baking, the pressure is off. When they come out misshapen (and they will), you can claim that it was "intentional".

They are light and crispy because they contain no flour (like meringue cookies.)

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1 1/2 cups fine white sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon-cloves

1/2 cup hazelnuts (blanched)
1/2 cup almonds (blanched)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Recipe

Roast the hazelnuts and almonds till lightly toasted. Pulse in a food processor till they are broken. Do NOT grind to a fine powder.

Meanwhile, whip the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Yeah, this involves whipping air into the eggs and it takes forever and is very laborious. Deal.

The whipped egg whites are (G + S)/W in the classification scheme. They are not a sauce so they don't show up in the list.

Add the sugar, and mix till dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Put the mixture over a VERY LOW flame, and stir till thickened and golden (20 mins or so.) Do not let it burn. You need to keep stirring and scraping as it thickens.

Butter a cookie sheet and drop them into irregular lumps at intervals. Bake at 300°F for 30-40 mins until hard.