This recipe was featured on Podcast Episode 4: How Tuscan Women Cook.
Tuscan Women Cook is a sponsor of the Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special, now airing on PBS. In this episode, Kathy visits the hill town of Cortona in Tuscany, meeting a woman who might be just as passionate about Italy as she is – Under the Tuscan Sun author Frances Mayes.
This podcast is all about Tuscan Women Cook, a hands-on cooking school located in the small Tuscan village of Montefollonico, where visitors from all over the world learn from the masters- Tuscan grandmothers or nonni. We learned the secrets of how Tuscan Women Cook from nonna Laurella Torrosi. This is her recipe for a traditional Christmas cookie called Ricciarelli :
Makes 22 cookies
Ingredients:
8 ounces blanched almonds
8 ounces sugar
1-3/4 ounces flour
2 eggs whites, whipped
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon almond oil
Instructions:
Put the almonds, flour, and sugar into a food processor and pulse into a fine powder.
Place in a bowl and add vanilla, stiffened egg whites and almond oil. Mix well.
Divide the dough into 22 cookies and roll into little cigar shapes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes.