Ricciarelli are soft almond biscuits. They are typical of Siena, where they are usually enjoyed during the Christmas season.
These lovely little Italian biscuits have a beautiful chewy texture and bursting with orange and almond flavour. They’re gluten free and dairy free and so simple to make.
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 160C.
Make the aqua faba, whip the chickpea water (the water that is inside a tin of chickpeas) and the cream of tartar together with a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. – at the time of writing I couldn’t find my hand mixer and decided to use a nutri-bullet, which worked, but I made way too much aqua faba. you only need about 2 table spoons.
Place the almond flour, icing sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl, throughly mix together and then slowly add the orange juice until it forms a firm dough. Then fold in a little of the aqua faba, then fold the rest of the aqua faba. Try to keep some air in the mixture, but at this point it will form a pretty sticky dough rather than a fluffy meringue.
Add the orange zest and almond extract and fold in until combined.
Line a couple of metal baking sheets with baking paper. Using clean hands, roll dough into balls about 2″ (5.5cm) in diameter, then roll in icing sugar until well coated. Shape into an oval, then arrange on baking sheet with some space between them for spreading, and flatten slightly. – I made mine a lot bigger, which are fine, you just get less biscuits.
Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes. check after 15mins they aren’t burning if so, loosely cover with tin foil and continue until 20 mins, Put them on a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.
just a few ingredients: Almond flour, icing sugar 
mix 
add orange juice and mix into a dough 
juice from a can of chickpeas (this image is too much juice) 
add some cream of tartar 
whizz to form stiff peaks 
I’ve made way too much 
only need a coupld of spoons of this 
fold in little by little 
fold in more with. almond essence and orange jest 
only until a sticky dough is formed 
use a bowl with icing sugar 
and make the dough into balls and coat in icing sugar 
put on a lined baking tray and slight flatten 
continue until all done 
bake for 20 mins 
ahould still be soft but will harden when cooled 
allow to cool on rack 
try one 
another shot 
one more 
ready to eat
Plant based Ricciarelli (Italian Almond biscuits)
Ingredients
- 100 ml chickpea water from 1 tin of chickpeas
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- juice of half a Jaffa Orange
- 200 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 200 g almond flour
- 1 tbsp almond extract
- jest of one jaffa orange
- bowl of icing sugar for covering
Method
- make the aqua faba, whip the chickpea flour and the cream of tartar together with a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- preheat oven to 160C.
- Place the almond flour, icing sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl, mix together and slowly add the orange juice to make a stiff dough.
- Its hard to gauge how much aqua faba to add, I would put a little at a time and fold it in and stop when the mixture is a sticky mess
- so stir in a little of the aqua faba, then fold a bit at a time the aqua faba only while its sticky, don't let the dough become runny. Try to keep some air in the mixture, but at this point it will form a pretty sticky dough rather than a fluffy meringue.
- Add orange zest, vanilla extract, and almond extract and fold in until combined.
- Line a couple of metal baking sheets with baking paper.
- Using clean hands, roll the dough into balls about 2" (5.4cm) in diameter, then roll in icing sugar until well coated. Shape into an oval, then arrange on baking sheet with some space between them for spreading, and flatten slightly.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes. check after 15mins they aren't burning if so, loosely cover with tin foil and continue until 20 mins, Put them on a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.
- serve with a glass of vin santo
Nutrition
(All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more).