Sicilian Almond Biscuits

Sicilian Almond Biscuits

These are AMAZING!  You can’t really buy fresh ones in the UK so I prefer to make my own.  They are so simple and you get a very good yield from a batch.  These are sold by the weight in Sicily and you’ll soon see why.  The large quantity of ground almonds makes this much pricier than your usual biscuit recipe.  I would argue however that they are far superior to any other biscuit and therefore incomparable…..so there.

Prep: 10mins  Cook: 10-15 mins  Yield:  30

500g ground Almonds
6 egg whites
300g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp almond essence
Icing sugar
Glazed cherries or whole almonds

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.

Whisk egg whites until stiff. To the Egg whites add the Sugar, ground Almonds, Vanilla and Almond essence.  Combine the mixture using your hands and leave to rest for 30mins.

Roll the mixture into 3cm balls, you should get about 30 balls.  Roll them in icing sugar and place on baking trays which have been lined with baking paper.

Press cherries or almonds into the top of the biscuits, this will slightly flatten them.

Bake until they become lightly browned this should take about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack.

The biscuits can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for about 4 – 5 weeks.

Yumm, these won't last long so make sure you have a secret stash :)