Ricciarelli

Cracks run through the white powdered sugar, and inside, a soft almond dough remains. Unlike sweets that add nuts to a wheat-flour dough, Tuscany’s ricciarelli use almonds as their main ingredient. In Siena, a diamond shape with rounded corners is typical. Inside the pale golden edges, a soft beige center remains. The surface keeps the whiteness of the powdered sugar applied before baking, with cracks that form during baking.

Almonds at the heart of the dough

Blanched, finely ground almonds are combined with sugar and egg white. The sugared almonds are bound with egg white and baked so that the center stays moist.

For “Ricciarelli di Siena,” registered as a Protected Geographical Indication (IGP), sweet almonds make up at least one third of the dough, and ranges are also set for the proportions of sugar, egg white and the powdered sugar on the surface. A leavening agent is also used. No wheat flour or potato starch is added to the dough, and they are baked until soft and not crumbly.

The flavorings vary as well. Part of the sweet almonds may be replaced with bitter almonds, or vanilla, citrus essential oils or finely chopped candied orange may be added. Some versions replace part of the sugar with syrup or invert sugar, or add honey. Placing a thin starch wafer underneath is also permitted.

Baking under powdered sugar, and packaging to keep them soft

The dough is divided by hand or by machine and shaped into diamonds that are close to ovals. When they are generously dusted with powdered sugar and baked, the white surface cracks.

The protection specification sets the weight of each piece at 10–30 grams and the thickness at 13–20 millimeters. They are baked in an oven at 150–200°C for 12–20 minutes, keeping the center soft. Everything up to cooling and airtight packaging is done within the province of Siena. For a sweet that loses moisture easily, packaging after baking is also a step that protects the texture.

At home, some methods chill the dough overnight before shaping. Egg whites, powdered sugar, almond flour and flavorings are mixed and left to rest; the next day the dough is formed into logs, cut, and shaped by hand into ovals. Fresh from the oven they are still soft, and once cooled they firm up enough to be picked up. Baking them until hard makes the center lose its softness.

The history of Siena’s almond sweets and theories on the origin of the name and shape

Siena has a culture of marzapane made from almonds and sugar. Sweets made from these costly ingredients were used as gifts and at lavish meals, and convents and apothecaries also made them. Older names include “marzapanetti alla senese” and “morzelletti.” “Ricciarelli” is a 19th-century name that also appears in a poem from 1814.

According to a story recorded in Tuscany’s regional product guide, the knight Ricciardetto della Gherardesca, returning from the Crusades, remembered the curled-toe slippers of a sultan he had seen in the East and modeled the sweet’s shape on them. It is a legend that links footwear seen on his travels with the shape of the sweet.

Separately, Treccani suggests the name may come from an older shape of the sweet and treats it as a derivative of riccio, meaning a curled lock of hair or a curl. Both the legend that the sweet is named after the knight and the etymological theory that the name comes from a curled shape have been handed down, and the origin is not clearly known.

Artusi’s method

In Pellegrino Artusi’s recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method), sweet and bitter almonds are pounded finely with sugar and combined with whipped egg whites and orange peel. Only a very small amount of wheat flour is used on the work surface. Wafers are arranged on a baking sheet lined with bran, the sweets are baked soft on top of them, and the excess wafer is trimmed afterward. This recipe preserves a use of flour that differs from the current protection specification.

Siena’s protected name and the sweets handed down in surrounding towns

“Ricciarelli di Siena,” registered in 2010, are produced and packaged within the province of Siena. Meanwhile, Pomarance in the province of Pisa and Massa Marittima in the province of Grosseto also have traditions that spread from Siena. In these towns, the dough and the shape of the wafer placed underneath are not standardized by common rules, and there are also chocolate-coated “ricciarelli rozzi.” Packaging in blue paper depicting two Etruscan horses is another feature of the area.

Pomarance-style ricciarelli. A version from a surrounding town, distinct from products bearing Siena’s protected name. Photo: Ricciarally, 2024-12-24, location unknown. Original image / CC0 1.0. Image from the distributing source. Any processing at the time of original publication is unknown; no additional processing this time.

They are served at Christmas in Siena and at various festivities in Pomarance, and after meals they are paired with coffee or tea, vin santo, or Moscadello di Montalcino.

Glossary