Pasticceria Mauro Allemanni - Il Nerissimo - Hazelnut and 74% Ecuadorian Chocolate

For chocolate lovers, a great classic, hazelnut and 74% dark chocolate, no bitterness due to the quality of the chocolate, just delight.

Ingredients:

SOFT BACIO: 40% PGI Piedmont hazelnuts, sugar, egg white, cocoa, honey, water. Filling: 74% Ecuadorian extra dark chocolate (single-origin cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: soy lecithin).

A few words about the Mauro Allemanni pastry shop:

Mauro Allemanni is the heart of the workshop: a pastry chef who, before returning to San Salvatore Monferrato (AL), worked in the kitchens and dining rooms of international restaurants, from cruise ships to the great names of haute cuisine, both in Italy and abroad. His return to the village wasn't a "return to the countryside," but a choice dictated by family needs and supported by a professional background that extends far beyond the confines of the Alessandria and Monferrato traditions.

With such extensive experience, Mauro couldn't limit himself to just traditional local amaretti. His pastry-making is born from the encounter between memory and innovation, and finds one of its most successful expressions in his Amaretti-macarons : an elegant synthesis of two worlds, combining the finesse of French patisserie with the aromatic depth of Italian amaretto. Sweet and bitter almonds—real almonds, not flavorings—create a surprising balance, available in several flavors: classic, gianduja, grappa, orange, and pistachio with black cherry. All are strictly free of artificial colors and flavors, which unfortunately are so common in these types of products today.

These sweets are disarmingly easy to eat: the kind of pastry that invites you to keep savouring it, and which, in my case, would be hard not to finish in a few minutes. These amaretti possess a rare personality, the fruit of a masterful blend of technique, flavour, and simplicity. Tasting them was truly a thrill for me.

And then there is the Hazelnut cake , flourless and dairy-free, made with significant amounts of Lu hazelnuts: a dessert that lives by the same philosophy. And then there's the delicate cake with almonds and lemon, or the nocciolotto, a soft kiss with hazelnuts and extra raspberry jam.

I struggle to recommend a single product to you, one is better than the other.