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2011. január 31., hétfő

Ricciarelli, Siena's almond cookies

Bejegyezte: Zizi dátum: 0:00

Raise your hands if you know Giulia and her wonderful food blog Juls' Kitchen. If you don't, hurry up and check it out, after reading this post. :) I don't remember how I found her amazing site - stuffed full of stunning photos, traditional Italian recipes and well written content in English and in Italian too - but I love it so much! She makes so much effort to translate all her posts into English. She is a friendly and chatty person, a great cook and a talented baker. We don't live very far from each other - Giulia in Italy, myself in Hungary - so I'm sure we will definitely meet one day... Sooner than later. :)

Thanks to the social networking tool, Twitter, we started chatting and getting to know each other, following each other's lives. To make the long story short, Giulia emailed me last December if I was interested in writing a cross cultural exchange recipe post. She already knew which Hungarian cake she would like to bake, but I wasn't sure about my Italian challenge. I didn't have a clue what  I should say... "Giulia, don't be hard on me! I like easy recipes! Surprise me! :)" She chose Dobos Torte because she ate tons of it when she visited Budapest. Juls is a big fan of this 127 year-old cake. I translated the recipe for her and I also emailed a video (subtitled in English) to make her baking easier (thanks to a fellow Hungarian food blogger, Kriszti, who made a video of how to make the Dobos Torte).

I got the recipe of Ricciarelli, the almond cookies from Siena. "The origin of Ricciarelli di Siena dates back to the 15th century: the almond paste - in the form of marzipan or Marzapanetti - was once very popular in the town and Siena was famous even outside its territory for its production. The cookies made with almond paste were reserved for the sumptuous banquet of the Lords because they were made of precious ingredients, mainly almonds and sugar. They were so valuable and refined that marzipan sweets were sold in the apothecaries shops  along with drugs and the most exotic spices of the time." (Info adapted from Juls' blog.)

Giulia says this recipe comes from the grocery shop Rosi in Poggibonsi (SI), slightly revised. She loves  to enter this shop especially during holidays because it is full of smells of chocolate, spices and happy-faced children.

I did a few changes in the recipe. I added less icing sugar (I don't like cakes/cookies very sweet) and reduced the amount of bitter almond extract. The cookies turned out to be amazing, a bit crunchy on the outside and soft, moisture in the inside. After a couple of days they are even better. Everyone in my family loved it. Grazie Giulia, it was a great experience!


Ricciarelli

Ingredients:
- makes about 20 -
- 2 egg whites
- 1 drop lemon juice
- 120 g icing (powdered) sugar
- 200 g ground almond flour
- 2 teaspoons bitter almond extract
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
- 1 orange's zest
- 100 g extra icing sugar

The night before: whisk the egg whites with the lemon juice to stiff peaks. Add the almond flour, 120 g of icing sugar, the almond extract, the orange zest and the vanilla seeds. Mix everything together then cover the soft dough with cling-film and set aside in the fridge for overnight.

The day after: place the extra icing sugar on a working surface. Roll the dough into a log (diameter 2,5-3 cm) and cut 1 cm thick slices. Shape each slice with your hands and coat the shaped cookies with extra icing sugar. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in preheated oven on 160C (320F) for about 18 minutes. When you remove from the oven, they will still be soft and moist but don't worry they will reach the ideal texture once cooled down. If some remain, store them in an airtight box.


The recipe will be translated into Hungarian soon!
A recept hamarosan le lesz fordítva magyarra!


5 megjegyzés on "Ricciarelli, Siena's almond cookies"

Juls on 2011. január 31. 0:27 írta...

Lovely lovely lovely result! I'm so happy we decided to make this cross cultural exchange, I do love the results! Thank you for being so nice and helpful, thank you for providing me a wonderful recipe and a simple way to recollect all my memories about Budapest!
Your ricciarelli look delicious and moist, perfect!

Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Ktichen on 2011. január 31. 1:24 írta...

These are one of my favorite Italian cookies! They have a wonderful texture that just melts in your mouth. I'm so happy to have discovered your blog through this cross cultural exchange with Giulia, I will be back again!

Zizi on 2011. január 31. 1:27 írta...

Giulia,
I'm so thankful for you for this cultural exchange recipe post. It was an amazing experience. Hope we'll make it again! :)

Zizi on 2011. január 31. 1:29 írta...

Thank you for your comment Sylvie. I'm so glad you'll be back. :)

Most of the time I write my posts in Hungarian but I try to translate at least the recipes into English.

Rambling Tart on 2011. február 1. 16:11 írta...

Those look so delicious, Zita! I too like less sweet desserts and I LOVE anything almond. I will have to make these for sure. :-)

Megjegyzés küldése

2011. január 31., hétfő

Ricciarelli, Siena's almond cookies


Raise your hands if you know Giulia and her wonderful food blog Juls' Kitchen. If you don't, hurry up and check it out, after reading this post. :) I don't remember how I found her amazing site - stuffed full of stunning photos, traditional Italian recipes and well written content in English and in Italian too - but I love it so much! She makes so much effort to translate all her posts into English. She is a friendly and chatty person, a great cook and a talented baker. We don't live very far from each other - Giulia in Italy, myself in Hungary - so I'm sure we will definitely meet one day... Sooner than later. :)

Thanks to the social networking tool, Twitter, we started chatting and getting to know each other, following each other's lives. To make the long story short, Giulia emailed me last December if I was interested in writing a cross cultural exchange recipe post. She already knew which Hungarian cake she would like to bake, but I wasn't sure about my Italian challenge. I didn't have a clue what  I should say... "Giulia, don't be hard on me! I like easy recipes! Surprise me! :)" She chose Dobos Torte because she ate tons of it when she visited Budapest. Juls is a big fan of this 127 year-old cake. I translated the recipe for her and I also emailed a video (subtitled in English) to make her baking easier (thanks to a fellow Hungarian food blogger, Kriszti, who made a video of how to make the Dobos Torte).

I got the recipe of Ricciarelli, the almond cookies from Siena. "The origin of Ricciarelli di Siena dates back to the 15th century: the almond paste - in the form of marzipan or Marzapanetti - was once very popular in the town and Siena was famous even outside its territory for its production. The cookies made with almond paste were reserved for the sumptuous banquet of the Lords because they were made of precious ingredients, mainly almonds and sugar. They were so valuable and refined that marzipan sweets were sold in the apothecaries shops  along with drugs and the most exotic spices of the time." (Info adapted from Juls' blog.)

Giulia says this recipe comes from the grocery shop Rosi in Poggibonsi (SI), slightly revised. She loves  to enter this shop especially during holidays because it is full of smells of chocolate, spices and happy-faced children.

I did a few changes in the recipe. I added less icing sugar (I don't like cakes/cookies very sweet) and reduced the amount of bitter almond extract. The cookies turned out to be amazing, a bit crunchy on the outside and soft, moisture in the inside. After a couple of days they are even better. Everyone in my family loved it. Grazie Giulia, it was a great experience!


Ricciarelli

Ingredients:
- makes about 20 -
- 2 egg whites
- 1 drop lemon juice
- 120 g icing (powdered) sugar
- 200 g ground almond flour
- 2 teaspoons bitter almond extract
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
- 1 orange's zest
- 100 g extra icing sugar

The night before: whisk the egg whites with the lemon juice to stiff peaks. Add the almond flour, 120 g of icing sugar, the almond extract, the orange zest and the vanilla seeds. Mix everything together then cover the soft dough with cling-film and set aside in the fridge for overnight.

The day after: place the extra icing sugar on a working surface. Roll the dough into a log (diameter 2,5-3 cm) and cut 1 cm thick slices. Shape each slice with your hands and coat the shaped cookies with extra icing sugar. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in preheated oven on 160C (320F) for about 18 minutes. When you remove from the oven, they will still be soft and moist but don't worry they will reach the ideal texture once cooled down. If some remain, store them in an airtight box.


The recipe will be translated into Hungarian soon!
A recept hamarosan le lesz fordítva magyarra!


5 megjegyzés:

  1. Lovely lovely lovely result! I'm so happy we decided to make this cross cultural exchange, I do love the results! Thank you for being so nice and helpful, thank you for providing me a wonderful recipe and a simple way to recollect all my memories about Budapest!
    Your ricciarelli look delicious and moist, perfect!

    VálaszTörlés
  2. These are one of my favorite Italian cookies! They have a wonderful texture that just melts in your mouth. I'm so happy to have discovered your blog through this cross cultural exchange with Giulia, I will be back again!

    VálaszTörlés
  3. Giulia,
    I'm so thankful for you for this cultural exchange recipe post. It was an amazing experience. Hope we'll make it again! :)

    VálaszTörlés
  4. Thank you for your comment Sylvie. I'm so glad you'll be back. :)

    Most of the time I write my posts in Hungarian but I try to translate at least the recipes into English.

    VálaszTörlés
  5. Those look so delicious, Zita! I too like less sweet desserts and I LOVE anything almond. I will have to make these for sure. :-)

    VálaszTörlés

 

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