Ricciarelli Traditional Italian Almond Cookies Recipes

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:

• 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.

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:

• 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.