This is a recipe of traditional Sicilian sweets. Sicily is renowned for its citrus fruits, its pistachio nuts and almonds. All these products make fantastic ingredients for sweets. Whenever I go to Sicily, the little mountain top medieval town of Erice (Wiki) is my favourite spot to enjoy almond based sweets. This is a very easy recipe to make delicious almond cookies, just like the ones you would eat in Erice.
Ingredients (for 25 cookies):
250 gms of almond meal
175 gms of caster sugar + more to sprinkle on the top
2 egg whites
1 tsp of lemon zest
25 candied cherries
Beat the egg whites until stiff with an electric mixer.
Then add the almond meal, sugar and lemon zest.
Mix well until the dough comes together.
Put spoonfuls of dough on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Make sure to leave some space between the cookies as they will expand while baking. Add a cherry on each spoonful of dough and sprinkle a little caster sugar on the top.
Let the cookies rest for 10 hours in a dry place BEFORE baking them (I keep them in the oven, with the door slightly open). Then cook them in a preheated oven at 125°C fan forced for 10-12 minutes. They have to remain whitish in colour… if you overcook them, they will become very hard! Serve them at room temperature with a cup of tea or coffee… they are deliciously soft!
NOTE: THIS COOKIES WILL BE DONATED FOR THE ONLINE BAKE SALE FOR JAPAN THAT WILL TAKE PLACE ON MARCH 30TH. ALL THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TO SECOND HARVEST FOR JAPAN. FOR MORE INFO, CLICK ON THE BADGE BELOW.
These are the pictures of the actual cookies shipped to the highest bidder or the Online Bake Sale for Japan:
These cookies look so cute and delicious! I love it
Another wonderful treat Manu! 🙂
Thanks Tina!
I love these kind of cookies! When you mix the almond meal, sugar and lemon zest to the egg whites, do you do it by hand?
Thanks Rosie! 🙂 You can either do it by hand or use an electric mixer, both methods work fine (I have tried them both). 🙂
Delicious dessert! I saved this recipe in my favorite list. Thanks for sharing!
I just visited Erice a month ago and fell in love with the almond cookies. I’ve been searching for a recipe to make in the states. The almond cookies I had did not have the cherry on top. And it seemed like there was almost a thick almond paste filling in them. Is your recipe similar, sans the cherries?
I have a regular oven – not a fan-based one. Is that OK?
Thanks for posting this recipe. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Lisa! There are many almond sweets in Erice… they are all quite similar, with very little differences (usually they have different aromas… like rum, orange…). Here you can see a few of them http://www.mariagrammatico.it/dolcimandorla/dolcimandorla.html Mine are like the ones with the almond on the top (they either put an almond or a cherry on the top). From that picture, I have also published the recipe for the chocolate covered rum balls (http://www.manusmenu.com/chocolate-covered-marzipan-rum-balls) and for the orange and chocolate marzipan balls (http://www.manusmenu.com/orange-and-chocolate-flavoured-marzipan-balls). I also have the recipe for Genovesi Ericine: http://www.manusmenu.com/genovesi-ericine-my-first-guest-post One of the most famous sweet from Erice (even though it is not almond based) and for Martorana (marzipan shaped like fruits): http://www.manusmenu.com/marzipan-martorana
Also, you can make them in a normal oven… just decrease the temperature to 210F and keep them between 8 to 10 minutes. They don’t have to brown, only to “dry”… that is why when you bite into them they are still soft. 🙂
I will be making also the other sweets of the picture as I LOVE all of them! Let me know if you see what you have eaten! 🙂
Have a great day!
Manu
I’m making these beautiful cookies for Christmas. Can you use almond flour? I believe the package says the oil is extracted from the almond meal and I have some ready to use. I can’t wait to try these!
Hi Gina! 🙂 I have never tried to make them with almond flour, but I think you can definitely give it a try! Let me know how they come out!! 🙂
This one’s a keeper Manu! Thanks so much for sharing. I didn’t post pictures because my flour wasn’t blond; that’s okay, I wanted to give the recipe a try first with what I had, they will be much prettier next year 🙂
The texture was wonderful and your instructions impeccable. This is a subtle cookie which I adore. Hopefully you will do Krumiri soon – I’m toying with 3 diferent recipes here, you would know which ones bring them closer to home.
Already making 2 more of your recipes very soon and signing up! Have a great holiday 🙂
hi
they look so good!
do i really have to leave them in a dry place for 10 hours?
wow thats a long time..
i’ll give it a try.
thanks
o.k i understand to make them dry but still soft..