Plump, sweet nutty almonds with floral orange blossom water and citrus lemon zest; Ricciarelli, Italian Cookies.
Drool as your senses overload into pure ecstasy. And, inhale.
This dish will fracture your belief that you can’t have super lush vegan.
Make this:
- When you’ve just returned from a trip to Spain and are already planning your next trip – bring a little Spain back home
- When you’ve got afternoon tea planned with the Bridge club members and need a little pick me up treat as you bid “No Trump”
- When you fancy an doughnut option – that’s lighter on the oil side and not fried
Ricciarelli was inspired from having visited Siena and absolutely loving the Piazza del Campo that sold Ricciarelli in its many bakeries, pastry shops, and sweet shops. I was dazzled with the amount of goodies.
Ricciarelli is originally from the Sabinian region, central Italy. Although, there is controversy that it may be from Siena, which is why it is commercially protected. Whatever its origin it makes for a fine sweet.
Ricciarelli is vegan and gluten-free.
Where I get my ingredients from
Anise Seeds you can purchase at your local Asian shop.
What equipment to use
For this recipe, I suggest:
High speed blender
Oven
What to do next
Tag me on @ethiveganquantum on Instagram to show me what you’ve made and let me know you’re happy for me to share.
My recipes are featured in vegan speciality publications: Nourished, Vegan Life, Plant Based and Vegan, Food and Living.
Order my first self-published book, “Essence: The Beginner’s Guide to Veganism” part of the three-part Circle of Food series. My second book “Presence: The Ascending Vegan” – which explores how to maintain a vegan practice is out in 2027 – I have compiled all the chapters including recipes.
Going strong since 2013.
Love.
Edward x
Ingredients
- 90g aquafaba
- 150g almonds, blanched ground
- 100g unrefined cane sugar
- 1tsp orange blossom water
- Zest of lemon
- ½ tsp almond extract
- Pinch of cream of tartar
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- In a high-speed blender grind the almonds and sugar in a grinder. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Using a mixer, whisk at medium speed the aquafaba until it goes fluffy. This will take around 5 minutes.
- Toss in the orange blossom water, zest of lemon, almond extract, cream of tartar, xanthan gum. Continue whizzing but increase the speed to high speed.
- Gently fold in the dry ingredients with the baking powder. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for an hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 180 degrees Celsius or if you have a fan oven 160 degrees Celsius.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut ever centimetre. Shape into oval or lozenge-shaped biscuits.
- Repeat until your tray is full but make sure there is sufficient space to permit the cookies to spread out as they bake.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the trays from the oven and allow the cookies to cool down.
- Dust with icing sugar before serving.
- Store in a sealed container.
