Ricciarellis

I'm starting to get into the Christmas spirit and have been doing a bit of Christmas baking for some friends coming around tomorrow evening. It's ages since I have made theses delightful biscuits, which are similar to a macaroon, soft, chewy with a beautiful almond flavour. This is a recipe from Nigellas 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'. They would make lovely homemade Christmas presents. I challenge you to just eat one. 

Ingredients
2 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
225g caster sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
half tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond essence
300g ready-ground almonds
Icing sugar for dusting

Method
Whisk the egg whites and salt until they are stiff and dry; then gradually whisk in the sugar until you reach a marshmallowy consistency. Add the lemon zest, vanilla extract and almond essence, along with the ground almonds; mix to a hard paste. Shape into small diamonds, dusting icing sugar over your hands to help form the lozenges. Lay on two baking sheets lined with greaseproof and leave to dry overnight. Heat the oven to 140ºC and cook the ricciarelli for 30 minutes. When cool, dust with icing sugar and serve. Makes about 34.