Ricciarelli (sienese Christmas Cookies)

Total Time: 20 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 2 large egg whites
• 6 ounces ground almonds (almond flour or meal)
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• rum or brandy or amaretto
• 1/2 oranges, zest of or 1 lemon, zest of
• 1 tablespoon candied orange or 1 tablespoon lemon peel
• 12 ounces of good dark chocolate

Recipe

• 1 sieve together the icing sugar, flour and baking power into a bowel, then mix in the ground almonds.
• 2 in a separate bowl, add a couple of drops of almond extract to the egg whites and then whisk until stiff peaks form.
• 3 stir the stiffened egg whites into the dry mixture until a sticky 'dough' is formed.
• 4 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.
• 5 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).
• 6 line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and place your dough balls on, taking care to leave space for 'spread' during cooking.
• 7 pop into an oven that's been preheated to gas mark 6 (200c, 390f) until golden brown. this should take approximately 10-12 minutes.
• 8 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.
• 9 ricciarelli keep for a few weeks in an airtight container.