Ricciarelli – almond biscuits
Sienese almond biscuits
Originally from Siena in Tuscany these delicious, soft almond cookies are now sold all over the world. Make your own simply with this easy recipe. A freshly baked batch of these almond biscuits make the house smell warm and inviting. We love to give them as presents in a box tied with a ribbon. We’ve made them gluten-free so everyone can eat them. Serve with coffee in the morning or dessert wine for dipping after a feast. Depending on the dryness of the ground almonds you might need to adjust amount of added egg whites as necessary.
Makes approx. 30
400g (14 oz) ground almonds
2 teaspoons almond extract
175g (6¼ oz) icing sugar for the biscuits
100g (3½ oz) icing sugar for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
150–175g (5¼–6¼ oz) egg white, approx. 4 large egg whites
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan. Cover a baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine together the ground almonds, the almond extract, 175g of icing sugar and baking powder. Use a whisk to beat the egg whites to a soft foam and add this to the mixture a little at a time, stirring with a large spoon until you have formed a thick paste, the mixture should be sticky but not runny. If you have a little egg white left, don’t worry, discard it.
Take two dessert spoons and form quenelles (raised oval shapes) by pushing the mixture between the spoons and dropping them gently into a bowl containing the extra icing sugar to coat them.
Shake the bowl to coat the biscuits. Remove each quenelle gently (a slotted spoon is useful for this stage) and place on the baking sheet, spaced apart and still covered in icing sugar. (If you are going to freeze the biscuits, this is the stage to do it. Once frozen they can be gathered up and stored in the freezer in a bag or a plastic container).
Bake the biscuits for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack before serving. They can be stored for up to a week in an airtight container.
