Ricciarelli Sienese Almond Cookie Recipe 445

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?

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.

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.

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.