Ricciarelli — soft almond biscuits of Siena

i. Origin & history

Siena has a long tradition of almond, honey and spice confectionery, rooted in the city's medieval position on the Via Francigena pilgrim route and in its trade with spice merchants. Its best-known sweets — panforte, cavallucci, copate and ricciarelli — were originally made by apothecaries and convent kitchens, and they are still the staples of the Sienese Christmas table.

Ricciarelli are thought to descend from medieval almond pastes, related to marzipan, which were prized luxuries in a city with access to imported sugar and spices. The name's origin is uncertain. The most popular legend credits Ricciardetto della Gherardesca, a nobleman said to have brought the recipe home from the Crusades, with the curled shape of the biscuits recalling the turned-up toes of Saracen slippers. It is a story told in every Sienese bakery, but there is no evidence for it. Another explanation connects the name to the 'curly' (riccio) appearance of the cracked surface.

By the nineteenth century they were firmly established as a Sienese speciality, made in the city's pastry shops and sold beyond Tuscany. In 2010 the European Union granted Ricciarelli di Siena Protected Geographical Indication status, which specifies the ingredients, the shape and the production area in the province of Siena.

Ricciarelli are often confused with amaretti. Both are almond biscuits made with egg white, but amaretti are flavoured with bitter almonds or apricot kernels and are either crisp (secchi) or soft (morbidi) and round. Ricciarelli are oval or diamond-shaped, flavoured with orange and vanilla, coated in a thick layer of icing sugar and always soft and chewy inside.

ii. Why the dough rests overnight

Ricciarelli dough is essentially a sweetened almond paste bound with egg white. It contains very little or no flour, so its structure comes from the almonds and the egg proteins. Resting the dough for at least 12 hours — and traditionally for up to two days — lets the sugar dissolve and the ground almonds absorb the moisture from the egg white. The result is a firmer, more cohesive dough that is easier to shape and that bakes with the distinctive cracked surface and soft centre.

The cracks are the signature of a good ricciarello. They form because the outside is coated in icing sugar, which dries and sets quickly in the oven, while the inside puffs slightly as the egg white expands. The surface splits into a network of fine fissures, revealing the pale, chewy almond paste beneath.

The oven temperature is deliberately low, around 140–150 °C. Ricciarelli are not meant to brown; they should be pale, with at most a faint golden tinge at the base. A hotter oven colours the outside before the inside sets and turns the biscuits crisp and dry, like macaroons.

Sugar is the other key variable. The dough is made with fine sugar so that it dissolves completely; icing sugar or caster sugar both work, and some bakers use a mix. Granulated sugar can be used if it is blitzed fine first, otherwise it leaves the dough grainy. The coating must be icing sugar, which clings in a thick white layer.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 18 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 250 g finely ground blanched almonds
• 200 g icing sugar or caster sugar, for the dough
• 15 g plain flour or rice flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 orange, finely grated zest
• 20 g candied orange peel, very finely chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp almond extract
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 pinch salt
• 100 g icing sugar, for coating

Use finely ground blanched almonds; coarse almond meal or skin-on almonds give a rougher, darker biscuit. In Siena a few bitter almonds are traditionally ground with the sweet ones; a little almond extract gives the same note. For the dough, icing sugar or caster sugar both work — what matters is that it is fine enough to dissolve. Sienese bakers sometimes use a mix of the two, and blitzed granulated sugar is a fair substitute. The orange zest and candied peel are the traditional flavour. The small amount of flour is optional; leave it out, or use rice flour, for gluten-free ricciarelli. Commercial versions are often baked on a thin edible wafer (ostia), which you can use if you find it.

iv. Method

1. In a large bowl, mix the ground almonds, 200 g sugar, flour, baking powder, orange zest and candied peel.
2. Whisk the egg whites with the salt to soft peaks — they should hold a shape but still be glossy and soft.
3. Fold the egg whites, vanilla and almond extract into the almond mixture, then work with your hands into a smooth, slightly sticky paste.
4. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or up to 2 days.
5. Heat the oven to 150 °C (300 °F), conventional heat, and line two baking trays with baking paper.
6. Sift the coating icing sugar into a shallow dish. Take walnut-sized pieces of dough, about 25 g each, roll into balls, then flatten slightly and shape into ovals or diamonds about 5–6 cm long and 1.5 cm thick, pinching the ends to a point.
7. Roll each piece generously in icing sugar so it is thickly coated, and place on the trays at least 3 cm apart. Leave them to dry at room temperature for 1 hour if you have time; this improves the cracking.
8. Bake for 15–18 minutes, until the surface is cracked and the biscuits are just firm on the outside and barely golden at the base. They should remain pale and soft in the middle. Cool on the tray, then dust with more icing sugar.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Do not skip the overnight rest. Unrested dough is sticky and soft, spreads in the oven and does not crack properly.
• Whisk the whites only to soft peaks. Stiffly beaten whites make the biscuits puff, crack open and dry out, like meringue.
• Coat them thickly. A generous coating of icing sugar is what produces the cracked white surface. Thinly coated, they bake smooth and brown.
• Keep the oven low. At 150 °C they set without colouring. Anything hotter browns the outside and makes them crisp.
• Take them out while still soft. They firm up as they cool. If they feel firm in the oven, they will be hard once cold.
• Let them mature. Like many almond sweets, ricciarelli taste better after a day or two in a tin, when the orange flavour has developed.

vi. Variations

The classic ricciarelli are plain and white. Sienese pastry shops also sell chocolate ricciarelli, with cocoa in the dough or dipped in dark chocolate, and modern versions flavoured with lemon, pistachio or coffee. The traditional Siena Christmas assortment also includes cavallucci, denser and harder biscuits with honey, walnuts, aniseed and spices; panforte, a dense cake of honey, nuts and candied fruit; and copate, honey-and-nut nougat between wafers.

Further afield, ricciarelli belong to the same family as Sicilian almond pastries, Spanish mantecados and the almond paste of marzipan. Piedmont's hazelnut baci di dama are another regional Italian nut biscuit, and Mantua's sbrisolona is a crunchy almond cake.

vii. Serving & storage

Ricciarelli are served at room temperature, at the end of a meal or with coffee, and at Christmas they are part of a plate of Sienese sweets. They are traditionally accompanied by Vin Santo, Tuscany's amber dessert wine, or a glass of sweet sparkling wine. They also make good gifts, packed in tins or cellophane bags.

Stored in an airtight tin at room temperature, ricciarelli keep for two to three weeks and improve over the first few days. Do not refrigerate them, which dries them out. They freeze well for up to three months: thaw at room temperature in their container, then dust with fresh icing sugar. The unbaked dough can be kept in the fridge for up to three days or frozen for a month.

ix. More from Italian

• Baci di Dama — hazelnut 'lady's kisses'
• Sbrisolona — Mantuan crumbly cake
• Fennel Seed Biscotti — twice-baked biscuits
• Zabaione — warm Marsala custard
• Marzipan — almond-sugar paste
• Macarons — French almond meringue biscuits