Ricciarelli…

Last night, I made some cookies that Jeff and I had in Siena this year for the first time. They are called ricciarelli.

We first stumbled on ricciarelli in the middle of a long afternoon walk around Siena. As had become our habit in Italy, we delayed lunch until that magic hour when everything closes in the afternoon–any time after 1:30pm is risky in our experience.

No lunch + steep medieval streets = grumpy!

So, thank goodness for La Nuova Pasticceria, which supplied us with these delightful, almond-based treats. After this run-in, we started to see ricciarelli on desert menus and in other stores. But we never saw them outside of Siena.

In any case, I’m happy to report that our version of ricciarelli is excellent. The next batch will have some orange zest…so I’ll have to report on that. Here’s a photo of the finished product. These cookies are perfect for Christmas desert with milk. They are chewy and sweetened with honey and vanilla and powdered sugar (yum). Enjoy.