Traditional Sicilian Almond Cookies Recipes

TRADITIONAL SICILIAN ALMOND COOKIES

Steps:

• First of all, sift the powdered sugar, then mix the sugar with the almond flour in a large bowl.
• After that, add the grated zests of half lemon and half orange into the bowl, 3 drops of vanilla extract. Finally, mix all the ingredients with the whites of 3 large eggs lightly beaten.
• Work the dough until it is compact and homogeneous, then pour it into a pastry bag provided with a large decorating tip.
• Place the pastry bag into the refrigerator 20 minutes.
• Line a drip pan with parchment paper. With the pastry bag, form cookies about 2 inches wide right on the parchment paper, adding half Maraschino Cherry on the top of each cookie.
• Then, put the drip pan in the fridge for at least 8 hours (it's easy to prepare the almond cookies the night before for the following day!).
• The resting in the fridge is critical because the cookies don't sag while cooking.
• When the almond cookies are ready to be cooked, set the oven to 350° F and bake the cookies by taking them directly from the fridge. Bake the cookies 10-15 minutes, turning the dripping pan halfway through cooking, until they are golden brown.
• After that, operate the broil a few minutes, until the cookies are golden! The almond cookies should be crispy outside and soft inside.
• Finally, serve the almond cookies with a good tea, coffee or a glass of Italian Marsala wine.

RICCIARELLI - TRADITIONAL ITALIAN ALMOND COOKIES

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.