Italian Almond Cookies (Ricciarelli)

Italian almond cookies on red serving platter.

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5 from 4 votes

Italian Almond Cookies (Ricciarelli)

Delicious Italian Almond Cookie recipe makes perfect Christmas cookies!

Prep Time5

Cook Time25

Total Time30

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: European

Servings: cookies

Calories: 277kcal

Author: Anecia Hero

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

3 cups almond flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
¼ teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon zest
Powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

Instructions

Separate 3 large eggs; reserve the egg whites; set out to come to room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature
Preheat oven to 325°F
Line baking sheet with parchment paper
In a medium bowl, add about 1 cup of powdered sugar; set aside for later
Powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, sugar, lemon zest, almond extract and salt; set aside
3 cups almond flour, 1 cup granulated sugar , ⅛ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon almond extract, 2 teaspoons lemon zest
In a separate bowl or stand mixer, whip the room temperature egg whites until the texture reaches the soft peak stage (See recipe notes)
With a spatula, gently fold beaten egg whites and honey into almond flour mixture
1 tablespoon honey
Scoop out dough, to form a 1" inch ball, then gently flatten the ball and shape the ball in an oval (or egg) shape; repeat process with remaining dough
Gently roll the oval shaped cookie in the powdered sugar and place on parchment lined baking sheet; since these are low moisture cookies, they won't spread much so you can put them about ½" inch apart on the baking sheet
Powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
Bake at 325°F for 18-25 minutes on the middle rack; remove the cookies and let them sit on the baking pan for 5 minutes; then transfer them to a cooling rack
After the cookies are on the cooling rack, you can sprinkle on a little more powdered sugar if you want

Notes

Separating eggs:

Separate the eggs while they're cold; then let the egg whites sit out and come to room temperature

Whisking egg whites to soft peak stage:

Using a stand mixer, put the setting on 6 and whisk egg whites for 1 1/2 minutes.

Almond flour:

Also called almond meal or almond powder; both are finely ground almonds so check the packaging to make sure the only ingredient is "almonds"

Almond flour is usually in the baking section of the grocery store- there's "blanched" and "unblanched" almond flour/meal. Either is fine to use in this recipe.

Lemon zest:

Grate lemon skin with a fine cheese grater. If you don't have lemon zest, no biggie; the cookies will still be delicious! Or you can use a little orange zest.

Nutrition