Ricciarelli di Siena

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor for grinding almonds
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Wooden spoon
• •Baking sheets lined with parchment paper
• •Fine-mesh sieve for dusting sugar

Instructions

1. 1

   Grind the almonds

   The almonds must be ground to a powder so fine it resembles flour. Work in small batches in a food processor, pulsing rather than running continuously. The friction of the blades releases oil. If you process too long without stopping, you will have almond butter. Stop every ten seconds, scrape the sides, pulse again. The texture determines everything that follows.

2. 2

   Combine the dry ingredients

   In a large bowl, mix the ground almonds with the granulated sugar. Add the orange and lemon zest. Work the zest into the mixture with your fingertips, rubbing it against the sugar and almonds to release the oils. The mixture should become fragrant and slightly damp. This takes a minute of work. Do not skip this step.

3. 3

   Add the egg whites

   Beat the egg whites lightly with a fork until they are broken up and slightly frothy, no more than 30 seconds. Add the almond and vanilla extracts to the whites. Pour this into the almond mixture with the salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until a soft, sticky dough forms. The dough will be wet and difficult to handle. This is correct.

   Do not whip the egg whites to peaks. They should be loosened only. The cookies need moisture to stay soft, and beaten whites would dry them.
4. 4

   Rest the dough

   Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or overnight. The dough must rest. During this time, the almonds absorb moisture, the flavors marry, and the texture develops. Without this rest, your ricciarelli will spread too much and lack the proper chew. Patience is not optional here.

5. 5

   Shape the cookies

   Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread a generous layer of confectioners' sugar on your work surface. Turn the cold dough onto the sugar. The dough will be firm but pliable. Using well-sugared hands, pinch off pieces about the size of a walnut. Roll each piece into an oval, then gently press to flatten it slightly. The cookies should be diamond-shaped with rounded ends, about two inches long and half an inch thick. Press each cookie into confectioners' sugar on all sides.

   Keep your hands and work surface heavily coated with confectioners' sugar. The dough is sticky by nature. Fighting this stickiness leads to overworking the dough and tough cookies.
6. 6

   Second rest

   Arrange the shaped cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving one inch between them. They spread very little. Let them rest uncovered at room temperature for one hour. A slight crust will form on the surface. This crust is essential: it creates the characteristic crackled top when the cookies bake.

7. 7

   Bake gently

   Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes. Watch them carefully. They should remain pale, barely coloring at the edges. The tops will crack, revealing the soft interior through fissures in the sugar crust. If the cookies brown, you have gone too far. They should look almost underdone when you remove them from the oven.

   Every oven lies. Check at 12 minutes. The cookies firm as they cool. Overbaking is the most common failure with ricciarelli.
8. 8

   Cool and finish

   Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets. They are fragile when warm. Once cool, dust them generously with more confectioners' sugar. The white coating should be thick enough to obscure the cracks underneath. Ricciarelli should look like small pillows that have been buried in snow.

Chef Tips

• •Grind your own almonds from blanched whole almonds. Pre-ground almond flour lacks the oils that give ricciarelli their characteristic chew. The fresher the grind, the better the cookie.
• •The dough will seem too wet and sticky. Trust the overnight rest. Cold dough handles entirely differently than room-temperature dough. Work quickly once you begin shaping.
• •Store ricciarelli in a single layer in an airtight container. They keep beautifully for two weeks. The texture actually improves after a day or two as the sugar coating softens slightly.
• •If your cookies spread too much, the dough was too warm or did not rest long enough. If they remain pale lumps without cracking, the second rest was insufficient or your oven runs cool.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough must rest at least 12 hours and can rest up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
• •Shaped cookies can be frozen before the second rest. Freeze solid on a baking sheet, then transfer to a container. Thaw at room temperature, let rest one hour, then bake as directed.
• •Baked ricciarelli keep for two weeks in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not refrigerate them; the moisture changes the texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 26g)