Directions: |
Directions:How to make it
The night before. Whip the egg whites with a drop of lemon juice to stiff peaks. Fold in gently the icing sugar and the ground almond flour. Mix in the bitter almond extract, the grated peel of one orange and the vanilla seeds. Cover with cling-film and set aside in the fridge overnight (or at least for 4 hours).
The day after.
Cut out about twenty (approximately 7 cm x 4 cm) ovals from the wafer sheet: they are meant to be the basis of ricciarelli. Place the extra icing sugar on a wooden working surface.Roll the dough into a sausage and cut out small balls of dough. Shape the dough with your hands to cover the wafer oval. Make it about 1 cm thick and coat the shaped cookies with extra icing sugar (about 5 mm thick). Arrange them on a baking tin lined with parchment paper or a silicone sheet.
Bake in preheated oven to 160°C for about 18 minutes. When you remove them from the oven, they will be still soft and moist, but don’t worry, they will reach the ideal texture once cooled down. Store them in an airtight container... the day after they are even better.
**And if I can’t find almond flour? Don’t worry, you can make it at home! Buy the almonds, shell them and remove the outer brown skin (to remove it quickly immerse them for about ten seconds in boiling water). Toast the almonds in the oven at 100°C for about 5 minutes and then let them cool down. Blend them with a tablespoon of icing sugar. Pulse the mixer several times using the pulse function or by pushing the “on” button, holding for a second, and releasing. The goal is not over heating the almonds, otherwise, they will release the oil. Blend until you get the consistency of a medium – fine and coarse meal. |
This recipe for Ricciarelli, Siena's Almond Cookies is from