Best Ricciarelli Recipes

TUSCAN ALMOND COOKIES (RICCIARELLI)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Toast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden, 5-8 minutes; let cool.
• Pulse almonds, lemon zest, and 1/4 cup powdered sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Whisk egg white and salt in a large bowl to medium peaks. Whisking constantly, gradually add 1/4 cup powdered sugar; whisk until egg white is very stiff but not dry. Fold in almond mixture and vanilla. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet; using wet hands, flatten tops and press sides to make rounded diamond shapes. Chill 30 minutes.
• Bake ricciarelli until edges are lightly golden and firm and centers are still a little soft, 10-12 minutes; let cool on baking sheet. Dust with powdered sugar.

RICCIARELLI

Steps:

• Combine white sugar and almonds in the bowl of a food processor; pulse into a fine powder. Pour into a bowl.
• Combine 1/4 cup egg whites and vanilla extract in a bowl; add to almond-sugar mixture, mixing as little as possible. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Remove dough from fridge. Sift 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and flour onto a clean work surface. Place dough in the center and add remaining 1/4 cup egg whites. Knead egg whites into dough until soft and smooth, adding additional confectioners' sugar and flour as needed.
• Roll portions of dough into 1-inch-thick logs. Take walnut-sized dough pieces from each log and shape into diamonds with slightly wet hands. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet and generously dust with confectioner's sugar. Let rest at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake cookies in the preheated oven until lightly golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet before serving.

RICCIARELLI

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Add the almonds, baking soda, salt and 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar to a food processor. Process until finely ground, about 1 minute.
• Whisk together the honey, vanilla and egg. Add to the almond mixture and pulse until a stiff dough forms.
• Roll tablespoon-sized portions of dough into balls, and coat in the remaining cup confectioners' sugar. Place at least 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until cracked and solid to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Slide the parchment off the baking sheets and allow the ricciarelli to cool completely before peeling off the paper. Store cookies in a tin or airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

RICCIARELLI - TRADITIONAL ITALIAN ALMOND COOKIES

Steps:

• Place the blanched almonds into a nut grinder or food processor fitted with a steel blade; process to a fine powder.
• Transfer to a mixer bowl and mix in the almond paste with an electric mixer. Add the egg white and mix at the lowest speed until thoroughly blended (the dough should be firm). Add the baking powder and the almond extract (and the orange zest if using), and mix until well blended.
• Use a small cookie scoop to portion the dough into roughly 1-heaping tablespoonful sized balls. Dust your hands with icing sugar and then roll these balls to form little finger sized logs. Place the ricciarelli logs 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and then flatten slightly. Let stand uncovered at room temperature at least 1 hour or overnight.
• When you are ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 300F degrees.
• Place cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake until the cookies are a very light tan, 20 to 30 minutes. Take care NOT to bake until brown or crisp, as it is the softness that makes the ricciarelli so delicious!
• Generously dust cookies with additional icing sugar while still warm, then carefully transfer to racks to finish cooling.
• Ricciarelli cookies keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

RICCIARELLI (SIENESE CHRISTMAS COOKIES)

Steps:

• Sieve together the Icing Sugar, Flour and Baking Power into a bowel, then mix in the Ground Almonds.
• In a separate bowl, add a couple of drops of almond extract to the egg whites and then whisk until stiff peaks form.
• Stir the stiffened egg whites into the dry mixture until a sticky 'dough' is formed.
• If you are trying the options, at this point add either a tablespoon of mixed orange/lemon peel OR the zest of half a lemon/orange OR a tablespoon of Rum, Brandy or Amaretto.
• Sprinkle a board with sifted Icing Sugar and take a desertspoon full of the dough, roll in the Icing Sugar and form into a ball. Flatten the ball a little with the back of a fork. Continue until all your dough is gone (the amount above should make 12-16 cookies).
• Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and place your dough balls on, taking care to leave space for 'spread' during cooking.
• Pop into an oven that's been preheated to Gas Mark 6 (200C, 390F) until golden brown. This should take approximately 10-12 minutes.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool completely. If you are intending to dip the cookies in chocolate, at this stage you should melt very good quality dark chocolate (70%+ cocoa solids) in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and dip the cooled cookies inches Return them to the tray and cool off in the fridge or a cool place until chocolate is set.
• Ricciarelli keep for a few weeks in an airtight container.

RICCIARELLI

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with baking or parchment paper.
• Mix the almonds with the caster sugar,2/3 of the icing sugar, all the baking powder and the orange zest.
• In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks, then stir them into the almond mixture.
• Using a large spoon, mash the mixture to a wet, sticky mass.
• Stir in the almond extract.
• Form oval or torpedo shapes about 2.5 inches long, roll in the remaining powdered sugar, and flatten slightly.
• Put them onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, allowing room to spread slightly (mine doubled in size), and sift the remaining powdered sugar over the tops.
• Leave the cookies at room temperature for about 2-3 hours to dry a little before baking.
• Preheat the oven to 275F/140°C
• Bake the cookies for about 30 minutes, or until they are lightly golden and a little firm on the outside (the insides should still be soft). Turn the baking tray halfway through cooking if your oven demands this type of attention (mine is rather unreliable, so I got half of them over cooked so the insides weren't soft).
• Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

RICCIARELLI: CHEWY ITALIAN ALMOND COOKIES

Steps:

• Whip egg whites and lemon juice together with a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
• Using a fine mesh sieve, sift in almond flour, 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, salt, and baking powder and fold into egg whites. I don't do it all at once but maybe in 2-3 batches. Try to keep some air in the egg whites, but at this point it will form a pretty sticky dough rather than a fluffy meringue.
• Add orange zest, vanilla extract, and almond extract and fold in until combined.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using clean hands, roll dough into balls about 1" in diameter, then roll in powdered sugar until well coated. Shape into an oval, then arrange on baking sheet with some space between them for spreading, and flatten slightly.
• Leave at room temperature for about an hour or until the tops have dried out and formed almost a little shell. (This may take longer in humid areas.) Pre-crack the shell by squeezing the cookies slightly from opposite corners. (Not doing this won't affect the taste, but pre-cracking them makes them much prettier if you want that beautiful white-gold contrast!)
• While cookies are drying, preheat oven to 300 degrees. When the cookies are ready, bake for about 20 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container. These are even better the next day and are great with coffee or tea!

RICCIARELLI (SIENESE ALMOND COOKIE) RECIPE - (4.4/5)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients together. Beat egg whites until stiff and then beat almond extract into them. Mix egg whites into dry ingredients (doing this by hand works best). The dough should have the consistency of a firm cookie dough and hold its shape in a ball. It will be slightly tacky once fully mixed but not wet. For balls of dough (roughly 1 tablespoon). Roll them in icing sugar. Flatten and pinch and push the dough into a diamond shape. You can also leave them as balls and bake, skipping this step but the end product won't be nearly as pretty. Bake on a lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and tops show the faintest signs of turning gold. Cool completely on sheets. They freeze extremely well once completely cooled. To unfreeze leave at room temperature, uncovered. Options: Add candiend orange peel or candied ginger to the dough. Dip the finished cookies in chocolate. Use hazelnuts instead. Or, roll them in crushed pine nuts. I find the cookies wonderful as is and would not recommend varying, but isn't it nice to know you can?

RICCIARELLI CHIFFON CAKE:

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
• Cream the almond paste until smooth, then add egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, oil, water and extracts. Cream together until smooth; set aside.
• Whip the egg whites until foamy then add 1/2 cup sugar and whip until they form stiff peaks. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the whites and fold in gently using a rubber spatula. Repeat two more times with remaining flour.
• Slowly fold the egg white mixture into the almond paste mixture... a little at a time.
• Place batter into an ungreased 10-Inch tube or Bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Invert the pan over the neck of a bottle to cool. I sometimes also let it rest on several inverted coffee mugs.
• Once cooled, dust with lots of confectioners' sugar and serve.

RICCIARELLI (SIENESE ALMOND COOKIES)

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, granulated sugar, ½ cup powdered sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Whisk to combine and remove any lumps.
• In a stand mixer or bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Add the almond extract and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
• Add the beaten egg whites to the dry ingredients and fold to combine until a sticky dough forms.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal balls (a heaping teaspoon) and form each ball into the shape of a flattened football. You can also just flatten them to a round shape.
• Add the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar to a bowl. Dip each cookie into the powdered sugar and roll around to coat thoroughly. Transfer to a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of room in between each cookie as they will spread.
• Allow to sit at room temperature, uncovered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This will allow the tops to dry out slightly, creating a crackled crust.
• Preheat the oven to 275F.
• Bake for 25-27 minutes until barely golden brown on the top. Allow to cool completely then store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.