Our Vegan Orange Almond Cookies are perfect as a dessert and as a mid-afternoon coffee break. Traditionally, these beautiful cookies are eaten in Italy during the cold days of winter.
They are very soft and moist when you bite into them, and bursting with orange and almond flavour.
Our recipe follows the original Tuscan tradition of Ricciarelli di Siena, but without eggs, for a final product that has the same texture and flavour as the original.
Check out our best chickpea recipe collection!
In Italy, these cookies are typically served on an abundant tray of cookies and accompanied with other types of Italian biscuits and cookies.
In many homes, they are also eaten for breakfast, mid-morning and afternoon snacks - basically at any time!
For example, try making our other delicious cookies, such as Amaretti, Almond Biscotti and Red Wine Cookies. They are all perfect for winter, the holiday season or in summer when you feel like a sweet treat with no eggs and no butter.
Storage
Our Vegan Orange Almond Cookies are best stored in a cool place and stacked in layers inside a sealed tin or glass container.
Separate with baking paper or aluminum foil to prevent them from sticking together. If your cookies are very soft (perhaps you baked them for a shorter amount of time), it is best not to stack them. Instead, simply store them inside a tray covered with film.
A little trick to preserve the humidity of the biscuits is to add a piece of apple or carrot inside the container with the cookies. If you make sure to replace the apple/carrot every day, your cookies will stay moist for longer.
Similar recipes
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For many more easy dessert ideas, check out our desserts category page.
Recipe
Vegan Orange Almond Cookies - Italian Ricciarelli
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 145 g almond flour or very finely ground almonds
- 70 g sugar
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 7.5 g candied orange or orange zest
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
- 25 g aquafaba this is simply the chickpea water from a can of chickpea
- 5 g almond extract optional
- ½ teaspoon vanilla aroma
You'll also need
- 2 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar for the topping
Instructions
- If you use whole almonds, then start by toasting them in the oven at 170C/340F for 15 minutes (unless they are already toasted). Then let them cool down and blend them very finely in a food processor, until you get a very fine almond flour. If you use almond flour, you can skip this step.
- In a food processor, add the dry ingredients and blend together till they are well mixed. Then transfer to a large bowl.
- In a bowl, add the aquafaba - chickpea water - making sure you filter our all chickpea pieces.
- With an electric whisk, beat up the aquafaba just like if it were egg whites, until you get a very firm foam.
- Scoop the foam into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula gently.
- Add the almond aroma and the vanilla aroma and keep incorporating with a spatula till you get a paste/dough.
- Transfer the paste/dough onto a worktop, lightly dusted with corn starch.With your hands, bring the paste together without kneading it, then form a roll with a diameter of 4cm / 1½ inches. With a knife or pastry scraper, cut the roll into small discs of about 21g of weight. I recommend you weigh them on a scale.
- Shape the discs into rhombus shaped biscuits - this is the traditional Italian shape for these biscuits.
- Place on a clean plate. Then let rest in the refrigerator overnight. If you don't have time let them rest in the freezer for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Place the biscuits on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Leave some space between them. Then dust them with powdered sugar.
- Bake the biscuits for about 8 to 12 minutes. This depends a lot on the oven. They biscuits are ready when they crack on top. Don't over bake or else they'll loose their shape.
- Let cool down for 15 minutes before putting them on a serving platter or eating them.
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Chrissie
Oh my goodness these are AMAZING! Thank you so much for the recipe. Xx
Nico
Ciao Chrissie! Thanks so much for commenting, I’m delighted that you like them - they were also my favourites while growing up! Nico