These super chewy, moreish Italian almond biscuits are a must-bake recipe with only 5 ingredients to produce Grapefruit Ricciarelli. Originally from the Italian city of Siena, which is also home to the delicious panforte, you’ll be surprised how quickly the dough comes together for these cookies and perfectly paired with a strong Italian coffee.
The surface of the Ricciarelli has a great crackled surface which comes from dusting the dough with icing sugar before baking, making them pretty enough not to need to decorate them further once out of the oven and cooled, making it an easy bake for hosting or if guests pay you a surprise visit. They don’t need any special equipment to shape them into the traditional lozenge shape; cutting the dough with a dinner knife will get you most of the way to the oval shape.
Traditionally, this biscuits are flavoured with almond extract and lemon zest, I’m a big fan of grapefruit and remember having a version of these biscuits from Hart’s Bakery in Bristol, when I grabbed a selection of their delicious treats to have on a flight, rather than gamble with plane food and have wanted to recreate them ever since the first taste. Unlike lemon zest, where I think delicate floral notes need to be punchy and plentiful, I find that if you’re heavy-handed with the grapefruit zest, it can be too bitter and almost a burning note when eating it. You might think a quarter of a grapefruit zested is an odd amount, but trust me, you want it gently perfuming, not burning, and you can have the grapefruit for breakfast when you’ve prepared the dough.
Equipment You'll Need
Grapefruit Ricciarelli Recipe
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 20 Cookies 1x
Description
Makes 20
Ingredients
- 2 Large Free Range Egg Whites (approx. 80g)
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract (Grapefruit or Orange Extract if you can get it)
- 1/4 a Pink Grapefruit, zested
- 200g Icing Sugar
- 260g Ground Almonds (give the almonds an extra blitz in a blender if chunky)
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer or hand whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks in a clean bowl, then whisk in the almond/orange extract and grapefruit zest.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the icing sugar and ground almonds. Gently fold this into the whisked egg whites until it all comes together into a dough. Blitz any remaining ground almond that is too big to sieve through. Cover and chill for at least 4 hrs, or preferably overnight.
- Heat the oven to 190C. Turn the dough out onto a work surface that is dusted with plenty of icing sugar. Roll into a long, fat sausage (about 40cm long) and cut 2cm-thick slices down the length (you should get about 20). Shape each slice into an oval and pat down the tops a little into the icing sugar on the work surface– the biscuits should be about 4-5cm wide and 5-6cm long. Arrange on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and dust with more icing sugar.
- Once all the biscuits are formed, leave on the tray before baking for 15 minutes, as this will help develop the crackled top to the biscuits.
- Bake for 18-22 mins until the biscuits are just turning brown. They will be soft, but will firm up as they cool. Leave to cool completely on the tray. Perfect with a strong coffee for a midmorning pick me up.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
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