Ricciarelli: Chewy Italian Almond Cookies
Ricciarelli are dense, chewy Italian almond cookies originating in Siena. They are a distant, and much less fussy, Italian cousin to the French macaron — perfect with tea or coffee!
It’s about time I shared a recipe with you that was inspired from our trip to Italy last fall!
We had so much good food while we were there that I wish I could relive or recreate: Bistecca alla Fiorentina, or Florentine steak. Tiramisu. Homemade cavatelli pasta with arrabiata sauce from our cooking class in Rome. Allllllll those interesting flavors of gelato. Of course, pizza. More than anything, I wish I could import the amazing cured meats we had or have just one more sandwich from Lo SchiacciaVino.
While we were in Florence, we had the rare treat of meeting up with my European blogger friend Emily of Inside the Rustic Kitchen (an amazing go-to recipe blog for all things Italian!).
We both happened to bring each other identical gifts – cookies local to the cities we lived in. I brought her benne wafers (small, crunchy sesame cookies) from Charleston, and she brought me a box of ricciarelli – chewy almond cookies native to Siena, Italy.
I had never had them before but my husband and I were in love with them from the first bite! It was really difficult trying to save any of the cookies for more than a couple days!
What are ricciarelli?
Ricciarelli are cookies from Siena, Italy, that have a kick-you-in-the-face almond flavor, a lovely dense chewiness, and a beautiful cracked surface. One of these cookies is just perfect alongside a hot cup of Earl Grey or, if you want to live in true Italian style, a cappuccino.
Think of ricciarelli cookies as a cousin to macarons. Technically, I believe, it is actually a type of macaroon – with two o’s – but they made me think of macarons – with one o – as I was making them.
The recipes and techniques of ricciarelli and macarons are actually very similar: In both types of cookie, you fold almond flour and sugar into whipped egg whites, and you leave the shaped cookies on the baking sheet for a while to dry out before baking in order to form a little crust on the outside.
But — and this is good news — ricciarelli dough is much less fussy to make than macaron batter.
In ricciarelli, the ratio of almond flour to egg whites is much higher than in macarons, so you get a dense, chewy almond cookie rather than a light, airy one. Because there’s so much almond flour to fold in, it’s impossible to keep much of that fluffy meringue texture. Instead of lava-like macaron batter, you end up with a sticky dough you can roll into balls with your hands.
However, that hint of a crispy meringue-like exterior is still there before you hit the chewy inside. Letting the cookies rest long enough on the counter before baking is key to getting this texture!
Getting perfectly crackled ricciarelli cookies
That dried-out shell on the cookie dough is also vital to getting the beautifully craggy, crackled effect on the outside as well. With ricciarelli, you roll each ball of dough in powdered sugar before baking. When it cooks, the dough on the inside expands and breaks through the dried exterior, allowing golden cracks to show through the white outside.
However, sometimes the cookies need a little help in getting the crackled effect. The first time I made these, the dough was practically drying out by the time I got them on the cookie sheet and cracked very easily on their own. The second time I made them, even though I left them on the counter for two hours instead of one, the cookies needed some assistance to get the cracked texture.
You can see the difference here – the cookies on the right didn’t have any help, while the ones on the left were pre-cracked before baking.
I lightly squeezed each cookie from opposite corners until I was satisfied with the cracks I could see forming in the tops of the unbaked cookies. Then, instead of relying on the expanding dough to create the cracks, they just have to enhance the ones you already made.
I’ve demonstrated below on the baked cookies how I squeezed the unbaked dough balls to crackle the shells. Feel free to lightly press down on the tops or whatever you need to do to get those cracks started!
It’s basically like when you slice the top of your bread dough before baking. If you don’t, the dough will still expand and crack, but it might not be where you want it to. (In the case of the cookies, I found without pre-cracking the dough, it will mostly crack on the bottoms of the cookies rather than the tops, which isn’t nearly as pretty)
Getting the ideal flavor and texture
I did several rounds of recipe testing to get these just right for you! The first batch was delicious but tasted too much of orange and was too sweet. (The orangey flavor was lovely, just not as close to the original super-almondy ones we had.)
The second batch was much closer to the original cookies we had, but lost that hint of a meringue-like shell. Granted, I don’t remember that being present in the original cookies we had in Italy, but was a really nice attribute of the first batch of cookies I made!
I wasn’t sure why less sugar and orange zest would affect the texture, but I theorized that it was related to the humidity on the day I made the second batch.
What else could I do but test the same recipe with a third batch? This time I had our new dehumidifier on. Voila! Nice slightly crispy thin meringue-like shell, with the dense, moist, chewy interior. Perfecto!
Granted, they were still AMAZING in the second batch – just know that the humidity of your climate may affect the exact texture of your cookies. You can always leave them out longer before baking to help them out if you are in an especially humid environment!
Anyway, the best thing you can do to make sure these cookies come out well is to TRY THEM. They’re very easy to make — and even with subtle variations on exactly how the surface or flavor of each batch turned out, the consensus for each and every cookie was that they were awesome.
Hands down: holy amazingness. These have become one of my favorite cookies now!
Ricciarelli: Chewy Italian Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar plus ½ cup for coating cookies
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon almond extract (this is not a typo)
- 1 teaspoon orange zest about half a large orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, powdered sugar, salt, and baking powder.
- Add egg whites and lemon juice to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat at medium low speed until frothy (about a minute), then at medium high until stiff peaks form. Add almond extract, vanilla extract, and orange zest, and fold in until well combined.
- Using a fine mesh sieve, sift almond flour mixture into the beaten egg white mixture. Add it in in about 2-3 batches, folding in each batch. Try to keep some air in the egg whites, but at this point it will form a pretty sticky dough rather than a fluffy meringue (see step by step photos in blog post or how-to video for texture)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using clean hands, roll dough into balls about 1" to 1.5" in diameter (or 23-25g each), then roll in powdered sugar until well coated. Shape into an oval, then arrange on baking sheet with some space between them for spreading.
- Leave at room temperature for about half an hour to an hour, or until the tops have dried to the touch and formed almost a little shell. (This may take longer in humid areas.) Flatten the cookies slightly and lightly squeeze or stretch opposite corners, trying to form little cracks in the top of the dried shell to pre-crack it before baking. (Not doing this won't affect the taste, but pre-cracking them makes them much prettier if you want that beautiful white-gold contrast!)
- While cookies are drying, preheat oven to 300℉ (150℃). When the cookies are ready, bake for about 20 minutes. Cool and store in an airtight container. These are even better the next day and are great with coffee or tea!
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve made it several times, and the cookies have always come out just as shown. Today they are (delicious) flat circles. If you have the chance, could you provide weights for the ingredients? The amounts of both almond flour and confectioner’s sugar vary wildly when measured by volume. Thanks!
Hi Cathy!
I’m actually working on a major update for this post that includes measurements by weight, a how-to video, and freezing tips! I should be republishing it next week. Since you commented though I will send you the weights now:
Almond flour – 2 1/4 cups (216 g)
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar (198g)
1/2 tsp lemon juice (instead of “a dash”)
1/4 tsp salt (instead of “a pinch”)
Makes 18 25g cookies or 20 23g cookies
I retested using the weights and exact measurements and they were great!
The amount of powdered sugar you need to roll the cookies in isn’t exact, so I didn’t convert that extra 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to grams.
Hope this helps!
These were a HUGE hit, I followed your recipe exactly and they were perfect! Have you ever frozen them?
Hey Sema, I’m working on a major update to this post right now and I should be republishing it next week! I know many readers have had success freezing these, but that is one of the things I’m testing to include in the update, along with measurements by weight and a how-to video. Dough and final cookies are in the freezer to be tested this weekend!
I bake and then freeze in snap lock bags – and then defrost on wire rack. Perfect!
Thanks for the tip!
Great yummy stuff! Thank you Caroline! I have nut allergic friends coming over. Can I make them a small batch of these substituting almond flour with something else? Bread crumbs maybe? Or other stuff? What would you do?
Hey Sophia, unfortunately for someone who is nut allergic I would recommend offering them a different cookie altogether. I have had success using alternate nut flours (my brother-in-law is allergic to all but pecans so I made them with pecan flour and swapped the almond extract for vanilla). But if they are allergic to all nuts you definitely won’t get anything similar by using all purpose flour or breadcrumbs. You *might* be able to adapt it using (or making) seed flour with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, but they have different levels of oils than nut flours so I’m not sure how it would affect the final cookie.
Seed flour is like a great idea! Thank you Caroline! If it worked for you with pecans, it should work with sunflower seeds I think. Shall try and let you know the outcome. Cheers, S
Please let me know how it turns out! I hope it works! 💕
I saw and tried your recipe today. To ensure every bite tastes the same the almond flour, sugar, orange zest, baking powder and vanilla should be mixed well together before adding them to egg whites.
Beating egg whites seems meaningless since you fold a very sticky dough at the end. If several ingredients like orange zest are mixed in sequence as in your recipe instead of adding them together there is more chance whatever air created from beating the eggs have already gone. It is the baking powder that does the job here.
I only beat egg whites enough to loosen their texture. My cookies are good regardless. Simple snd Saving time.
These are delicious- however when I baked them they collapsed and became cookies more than oval “bites”, not sure where I went wrong!
It is a cookie recipe, so I’m glad they became cookies. What do you mean by oval bites? I’d love to help you troubleshoot but I’m not sure what you mean!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Hosting an Italian themed party. I would like to make these ahead of time Do these cookies freeze well?
This cookie recipe is awesome. Though found it a bit sweet but it is a keeper. I will definitely do it again. Planning to serve on Father’s day lunch with some invited friends. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
The powdered sugar disappeared during the rest time. Should I roll again before baking?
You can if you’d like!
i LOVE this recipe and have made it many times. thank you!!!
i always make a double recipe and use 5 whites from my ~medium-sized farm eggs. i convection bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
pecan pie is a delicious way to use the extra yolks.
Mmmm ricciarelli AND pecan pie! Double yum! Thanks for sharing!
I made these, but is it possible that the amount of sugar in the recipe is wrong? What would be the equivalent in grams? I used 1 cup, 200 grams instead of 1 3/4 and they were still too sweet for me?
I’ve made these many times! The amount of sugar is correct, but yes, they are sweet cookies. You can reduce the sugar a bit if you’d like to try them less sweet.
Hi, love your recipe 😍 can I ask please, you baking them in a fan oven or a conventional oven? Thanks
I am baking these in a conventional oven! <3
Thank you for the great recipe! I didn’t wrap the cookies with extra sugar (too sweet for me), and the cookies stayed wet and had much problem to take them off the baking sheet. What do you think went wrong?
Hey Matan, the powdered sugar isn’t to add extra sweetness but is partially to absorb some of that moisture. That could contribute to your dough staying wet and sticking to the baking sheet. You do still have to let the dough rest before baking for the outside to dry out a little. If you want it less sweet, consider reducing the amount in the dough itself a little bit, and then rolling the dough in powdered sugar as directed. It also helps give that beautiful contrast of the white exterior and golden cracks.
Hi Caroline, I bake in the General Store of a small Massachustts town but happen to be from Mt. Pleasant, SC also. I have been using your Ricciarelli recipe. Customers love these cookies. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Wow, what a small world!! Thanks for sharing, and I’m glad your customers love these!
These are my go to cookie recipe now – I get rave reviews everytime I make them. I have to make a double batch because they go so fast and my husband takes them to work to share with his colleagues as they keep asking for them! So wonderful!
A double batch is never a bad idea with these!
I made these yesterday for the first time & doubled the recipe because I love these cookies. I only used 1 1/2 Tbsp of almond extract, but if I made them again, I’d do 1 Tbsp for a doubled recipe. I loved them! I’ll definitely make them again!
These were a hit at a work cookie exchange, and they are just as good (maybe even better than) the almond cookies I get at my local NY-Italian bakery. I didn’t make any substitutions other than rolling some 2” size dough balls for bigger cookies for my husband, those took around 23-25 min to bake.