Page 9 - 2020-2021 Holiday and New Year Recipe Book | University of Rochester

Ricciarelli (“Italian Almond Cookies”)

Submitted by Melissia Schmidt ’02W

Associate Director of Alumni Relations

INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS

Prep Time: 30 mins (+ 1 hour drying time) 1. Whip egg whites and lemon juice with mixer until
Cook Time: 20 mins stiff peaks form.
Serves: 20 cookies 2. Using a fine mesh sieve, sift in almond flour, 1
2 egg whites 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, salt, and baking
Dash of lemon juice powder, and fold into egg whites. Try to keep air
2 ¼ cups almond flour in the egg whites, but it will form sticky dough.
1 ¾ cups confectioners sugar 3. Add orange zest, vanilla extract, and almond
Pinch salt extract and fold in till combined.
¼ t baking powder 4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll
1 T fine orange zest dough into balls about an inch in diameter, then
1 T almond extract roll in the ½ cup of confectioners sugar until well
1 t vanilla coated.
½ cup confectioners sugar for coating 5. Shape into a circle, arrange on baking sheet
with space between for spreading, and flatten
slightly.
“My grandparents came from Italy, and
grandma and I would make these for 6. Leave at room temperature about an hour or
Christmas. I remember rolling the dough and until firm tops have dried out or “formed a shell”
can take longer if humid).
sprinkling them with extra powdered sugar
when we put them on the plate, while coffee 7. Create cracks across cookie by squeezing
cookies slightly from opposite sides (this is
was percolating on the stove top.”
optional and won’t affect taste, just looks).
8. Bake in 300 F oven, 15 - 20 mins, one sheet at
a time, until tops start to crack and they are
barely golden around edges.
9. Cool and store in airtight container – tastes even
better the next day!

Ho lid a y R e c ip e s