Ricciarelli - Italian Almond Biscuits
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Serves: 20 biscuits
 
Ready to serve
Ingredients
  • 300g blanched almonds
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 150g raw caster sugar, or white caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp sea salt flakes, or ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 60 to 70g egg whites (from 2 eggs) – no more otherwise mix will be too soft
  • 120g Icing sugar for coating
Instructions
  1. Place almonds and zest into TM bowl and mill 6 seconds / speed 7, scrape around bowl and mill again 2 seconds / speed 7 (you want the almonds to be fine but still have some texture)
  2. Add sugar, vanilla, salt and egg whites to TM bowl and mix 10 seconds / speed 5
  3. Remove almond mixture to a separate container – this is a very sticky dough so Turbo x 1 to scrape the rest of the mix out
  4. Cover the container, and place mixture into the fridge for two hours before shaping into biscuits
  5. When ready to bake, place icing sugar into a small bowl
  6. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees, fan forced, and line two baking trays with baking paper (I use large baking trays so can get all the biscuits onto one, still allowing for 6cm space between biscuits … so if you have a large tray this may apply to you too)
  7. Dip your ice-cream scoop or spoon into the dough, then drop that dough into the icing sugar (the dough is sticky, so it is easier to handle once it has been coated in the icing sugar … if using a scoop you may wish to wash and dry it half-way through shaping the biscuits, and if using a spoon use a second one to push the dough off the first spoon to save using your hands which will become sticky)
  8. Coat the dough generously in the icing sugar before picking it up and shaping it into a thick rectangle (it does not need to be perfect … these are very rustic looking biscuits which is part of their charm)
  9. Place dough onto baking tray, leaving 6cm between the biscuits to spread a little during baking
  10. Place tray into oven and bake 10 minutes, rotate tray and bake for a further 6 to 8 minutes until cookies are cracked, and lightly golden around the edges (cooking time will depend on how big you have made the biscuits, but if using a 25ml scoop then this timing is perfect)
  11. Cool for 10 minutes on tray before placing onto a cooling rack to cool completely
  12. Store biscuits in a sealed container for up to two weeks
Notes
I use a 25ml ice-cream scoop for the dough, which gives me approximately 20 to 22 biscuits
Recipe by The Passionate Pantry at https://www.thepassionatepantry.com.au/ricciarelli-italian-almond-biscuits/