Called Ricciarelli, these Italian Almond Cookies are chewy on the inside, filled with wonderful almond flavour and studded with dried cherries. They keep for 10 days, and because they’re gluten free and dairy free, everybody can enjoy them!
Italian Almond Cookies
If there’s one word that captures these cookies, it’s rustic. And in my world, what that means is don’t get hung up about making them look perfect. These nubbly little balls will be a bit wonky. Some will be larger than others. There will be almond bits sticking out here and there, you might end up with some bald patches. Some bits might have a double layer of almonds. Some will have more than their fair share of dried cherries in them. Others will miss out.
And that’s ok! These are cookies that are meant to be perfectly imperfect – to look at. But they’re perfectly perfect – to eat!!!
What goes in Italian Almond Cookies
Here’s what you need to make these Almond Cookies:
Just a note on a few of the ingredients:
Almond meal (aka Ground Almonds) – This is what we use instead of flour for these gluten free cookies. It is literally raw almonds that are blitzed into a fine powder. It’s easily found nowadays, sold in the bakery, dried fruit & nut section and/or health food section of grocery stores. You can also make your own by blitzing 250g/ 9oz raw, unpeeled, unsalted almonds in a powerful blender (I use a Vitamix) until it becomes a fine powder.
Almond flour is different, it is made with blanched, peeled almonds, blitzed until it becomes powder form. It is lighter in colour (because the brown skin is removed) and it has a finer texture the almond flavour is slightly less. While I have not made these particular cookies with almond flour, I am confident they will work based on other recipes where I’ve interchanged the two, such as this Orange Cake;
Almond extract – Made from the oil of almonds, this adds a rich almond flavour to anything you add it to. Easily found these days in the baking aisle of grocery stores;
Flaked almonds (optional) – These are used to coat the cookies which gives it a terrific textural crust and extra almond flavour. Without the almonds, the outside of the cookies are quite soft and need to be handled rather gently to ensure you don’t crush them.
Also, from an eating perspective, when it’s soft on the outside and inside, my mind thinks “CAKE!!!!” and gets all confused that it’s actually a cookie. So the crispy toasted almond crust makes these biscuits more like what my narrow mind thinks of as cookies – crispy outside, softer inside.
Pretty sure it’s not strictly traditional. Italian readers, perhaps you can shed some light on this? But it’s how an Italian bakery in Sydney makes these cookies. I loved it, so I stole the idea!
Dried cherries (optional) – You won’t see dried cherries in traditional Italian Almond cookie recipe. But this particular recipe is one loosely based on a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe which includes the cherries. I liked it so I kept it in, because it brings an extra something-something to these cookies. But you can skip it, or substitute with any dried fruit really – cranberries, raisins, even chopped apricot!
Sugar – I’m using superfine / caster sugar here which are finer grains than regular sugar which is my standard sugar that I use for baking as it incorporates more easily into batters. But for this particular recipe, regular sugar (granulated sugar) will work just fine too;
Egg Whites (see here for recipes using leftover egg yolks) – use what’s sold labelled as “large eggs”, which are 55 – 60g / 2oz each. These are industry-standard sizes in Australia and the US. If your eggs are significantly larger or smaller in size, just weigh different eggs and use 110-120g / 4 oz in total (including shell) or 100 – 108g / 3.6 oz in total excluding shell (this is useful if you need to use a partial egg to make up the total required weight. Crack eggs, beat whites and yolks together, THEN pour into a bowl to measure out what you need).
Use at room temperature – Eggs need to be at room temperature and not fridge-cold, because they aerate better when beaten. A quick way to warm up fridge-cold eggs: Place eggs in a large bowl, cover with warm tap water (just warm, not hot) and leave for 5 minutes. Wipe dry (to avoid residual water dripping into bowl), then use per recipe.
How to make Italian Almond Cookies
The nice thing about this cookie dough is that it’s really forgiving. No need to worry about overworking the gluten like you do with flour based cookies. It can sit around for ages (like it for hours when I made the recipe video!) and it still works 100% perfectly.
Whisk Dry ingredients – Use a whisk to combine the almond meal, sugar, salt, lemon and almond extract. You could also rub it with your fingers, but a whisk makes short work of this step (literally 5 seconds);
Beat egg whites until fluffy – Beat the egg whites with the honey until soft peaks form. “Soft peaks” is the stage before “stiff peaks” which is what you want when making things such as Pavlova because you need the stiffness for the meringue to hold its shape when baked.
For this recipe, we’re not relying on the egg whites to make the cookies rise as such. It’s more to give the cookie a bit of aeration so they aren’t super dense. So we only need soft peaks – which looks like this:
Make dough – Combine the whipped whites with the Dry Ingredients. You will feel like you’re crushing all the air out of the whites as you mix them, but you aren’t. Not completely!
Unlike recipes like the Black Forest Cake I shared last week where the sponge layers rely on the whipped egg whites to make them rise, we don’t need to be so careful folding the egg whites through the batter because for these Almond Cookies, we’re just using egg whites to lighten the mixture, as opposed to making the cookies rise;
Form balls using two spoons – Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape into a rough ball (2.5cm/1.” ball). I do this using 2 eating spoons – we don’t need perfect balls here. These cookies are supposed to be rustic! Also, the cookies may look small at this stage, but the almonds add bulk.
Coat in egg whites – Drop the ball into a bowl of whisked egg whites and roll with two forks to coat. This is used to make the almond flakes stick to the cookies. When it’s wet, the almonds will slide around but once they are baked, the egg white turns into super glue!
Coat in almond flakes – Then use the forks to transfer the cookies into a bowl with the almond flakes. Use your fingers to sprinkle almonds on top, then pick the whole thing up (with plenty of excess almond flakes!), press almonds around the ball and shake off excess.
Again, just a reminder, we’re going for rustic here! Don’t worry about bits of almonds sticking out, some naked patches, some double up patches! Whatever sticks is good, whatever does, doesn’t!
Place on tray – Place on two prepared trays 2.5cm / 1″ apart. Bake for 13-15 minutes in a 180°C/350°F oven until golden brown. Start checking at 12 minutes to be sure the nuts aren’t burning;
Cool – Transfer to rack to cool completely before serving. They cookies will be soft straight out of the oven, but the exterior will crisp up as they cool.
Dusting with icing sugar / powdered sugar is optional, but they do add a lovely little finish to them, don’t you think?
These cookies are terrific for taking to gatherings because it seems inevitable these days that there will be at least one person who is gluten free.
But dietary requirements aside, these cookies keep really well for up to 10 days in a super airtight container which is another reason they are so great. Especially if you opt to do the (not really optional!) coating of almond flakes because it keeps the outside nice and crisp. Whereas without, the crust tends to get softer with time.
Either way though, with or without the almond crust, they are delicious! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Italian Almond Cookies (Ricciarelli) – gluten free!
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond meal or blanched ground almonds (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup caster / superfine sugar (Note 2)
- 2 tsp lemon zest (1 lemon)
- 3 drops natural almond extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup dried cherries , chopped (Note 3)
- 2 egg whites , at room temperature (from 2 large eggs, Note 4)
- 2 tsp honey
Almond Coating (optional, Note 5):
- 1 Extra egg white
- 1 1/2 cups flaked almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F (170°C fan). Line 2 trays with baking/parchment paper.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Place the almond meal, sugar, zest, almond extract and salt in a bowl. Whisk together until zest and almond extract is evenly distributed. Add the cherries and set aside
- Beat eggs whites: Using an electric mixer or a whisk, beat the egg whites and honey to soft peaks (Note 5). About 2 minutes on Speed 8 of a handheld beater, or 1 1/2 minutes on Speed 6 of a stand mixer.
- Fold the beaten egg whites gently into the almond mixture. You will seemingly knock most of the air out of the meringue, that's ok! (You actually haven't 🙂 ).
Forming & Coating Cookies:
- Place Extra egg white in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until foamy. Place flaked almonds in another bowl.
- Form 2.5cm/1" balls: Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape into a rough ball (2.5cm/1" ball). I do this using 2 eating spoons – we don't need perfect balls here.
- Coat in egg whites: Drop the ball into foamy egg whites. Use 2 forks to turn to coat, then pick up and place in the flaked almonds.
- Almond coating: Coat cookies with the almonds, pressing them on to cover as completely as you can. Don't worry if you get some double layers or pieces sticking out – no need to be neat or thorough here!
- Bake 13 minutes: Place on prepared tray 2.5cm / 1" apart. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Start checking at 12 minutes to be sure the nuts aren’t burning
- Cool: Transfer to rack to cool completely before serving.
- Store: Store in an airtight container. They last up to 10 days in a storage container or can be frozen
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Working on a new recipe, comparing various versions. Dozer’s keen to get involved.😂
Hi. How long can I cook it in an oven toaster? Thanks
Hi Dang, I haven’t tried to be honest – I imagine they would cook similarly to a regular oven as long as it’s set at the same temp as the recipe. N x
Hi Nagi,
Tried it in an oven toaster set for 10mins and it is perfectly fine. It’s taste so heavenly..my husband and kids they loved it. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Looking forward to try more of its kind. Gluten free so good.
Hi! Italian here! As you asked, brutti ma buoni and ricciarelli are two different types of cookies. Brutti ma buoni are traditionally made in northern Italy with hazelnut flour, egg whites and sugar; with a procedure similar to yours, you basically prepare a meringue and then fold in the hazelnut flour. There’s no coating (they really are ugly) and they are not chewy, but rather crunchy.
On the other hand, ricciarelli are made with almond flour, egg whites and sugar but with a different procedure, combined to form something very similar to marzipan. The dough is quite dense, and the resulting cookies are soft in the center; these too are not covered with sliced almonds. Ricciarelli are traditionally shaped as “grains of rice” and made during the Christmas period.
Ricciarelli come from Siena in Tuscany, while brutti ma buoni come from Piedmont.
That said, who cares! I really like the idea of covering them with almonds! even if they are not the traditional Italian version, the only thing that matters is that they are good and I will definitely give them a try 🙂
Thanks for that Chiara, that’s good to find out!!! I hope you give these ones a try, I’d love to know what you think! N x
Nagi, love the recipe but I thought dogs were only allowed peanuts, not other nuts.
Hi Chris, there are certain nuts to avoid, but there are a lot of nuts that are also ok for dogs in small quantities 🙂 N x
Wow! No wonder Dozer stays near by ! He is smart ,good boy 👍,thanks Nagi My 1/2 and I ❤️Almonds .
🙋🏻♀️Lou 👋👋
He knows where to get food 😂 N x
Hi Nagi. This recipe looks great. Can you make the biscuits larger? If so, do I need to adjust the heat and time in the oven?
Hi Jeanette, you can make them larger but they will take longer to cook but potentially need a lower heat as they may get too much colour before cooking the whole way through – I’d need to test it 🙂 N x
Thanks Nagi, I’ll do the same and let you know how I go.
Nagi, would this recipe be a good use of almond meal from making homemade almond milk? This is a new obsession and looking for uses beyond energy bites and healthy quick breads. Thanks!
I haven’t tried sorry Karmen, they may lack a little flavour if you’ve extracted almond milk from them – I’m not entirely sure how it would change the texture too. I’d love to know if you try it though!! N x
Love almonds do have flour, flaked almonds. Want be baking for few more weeks am of the crutches but walking stick is handy.
Oh no Vera, wishing for a speedy recovery for you!! N x
Hi i don’t care for gluten free, how can i make these a regular cookie? They look good
Hi Dee, these weren’t specifically developed to be gluten free, they just naturally are! You need the almond meal for this one – they won’t have the same flavour/texture with regular flour. N x
Sorry but these are definitely NOT brutti ma buoni. They are a completely different biscuit.
Thanks so much for this recipe. Sounds fantastic. It is just what I need to make as a treat for my husband….. everything has to Gluten-free.
Thanks, Nagi.
These are delicious! I just used what I had in the cupboard so subbed sugar for 1/2 cup coconut sugar and 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein. I also used saltanas instead of cherries…
Oh my goodness yum!! Thank you!
Sounds delicious Kristina!! N x
Whenever I’m near Haberfield I always indulge and spend far too much at Papas Patisserie (I’m sure you know this amazing place in Sydney!!!) and mostly on their almond horseshoes.
I’m so excited to try this recipe…if I can master a similar biscuit from home, I will be ecstatic 😁.
Love absolutely everything you do Nagi! (Wonton Soup in now for lazy Friday night dinner)
Love to know what you think once you try them Kelly!!! N x
Made this arvo…as expected 👌.
Actually Nagi they don’t look ugly they remind me of little rose petals and of course the shiny clean Dozer, it shows in his fur and I was excited to see him outside the Monavale vet place as I have been to MV on a visit from NZ and saw all the cockatoos flying free whereas here they are all caged- so sad.
Welcome from NZ Carolyn!! I hope you have a great stay!!! N x
Hi Nagi. These look great. Set aside for the weekend. Larousse and Escoffier…. French brioche anyone 🤔👍
I could never have too many food bibles Dee 😂 N x
Oh no! There goes the (weakly attempted) diet….
But Nagi, – while you are doing delicious Italian sweets, may I put in a request for a crostoli/crostini recipe? It looks like an easy enough thing, but my baking skills are on the negative side of zero – and your recipes are among the few idiot-proof things in my life, sigh.
(And baked rather than fried would make me feel less guilty too…)
❤ to u and the big D
Worry about the diet tomorrow Ish!!! Now crostoli is one to add to my list!! N x
Hi Nagi, very pleased to see the “ugly”biscuit recipe, but fond as I am of almonds, I’m no fan of almond essence! Can I leave it out or sub in vanilla?
Hi Ronnie, just use vanilla in it’s place 🙂 N x
Nagi, thank you these look so yummy! I am gluten intolerant so always happy to see a GF recipe. I think the almond and cherry combo is a match made in heaven and I will be trying this recipe out this weekend for my non GF family 😊 Also, big thanks for the egg weighing tip. We have our own chooks and the girls lay pretty random egg sizes, so your weight guide is perfect for me! Happy weekend 😀
I hope you love them Anna, let me know what you think once you try them!! N x
Sugar ! I haven’t baked a biscuit/cookie since my 20s way back in ancient history and do not remember when I last indulged . . .but these sound fantastic !! I do not indulge in any diets but these just present as so h…..y and so moreish ! Somehow I knew you would get to me 🙂 ! Thank you !!! Oh and that was our Dozer on ‘Unleashed’ – I did not dare name him lest I hurt another pup’s feelings ! What a majestic pose !!!
A little indulgence here and there – shhh I won’t tell anyone Eha 😉 N x
Hi Nagi, these look amazing, can’t wait to try them!
Could we swap the almond essence for vanilla essence ?
(I know the almond flavour won’t be as strong, but I have vanilla on hand!)
Sure can Laura, the almond flavour just won’t be as intense. N x