Hot baked biscuits in less than 30 minutes? Yes please! Here’s a simple recipe for Italian Almond Biscuits. They are chewy, delicately sweet and packed with the rich flavour of roasted almond.
Why We Love This
A lot of Italian almond biscuit recipes require you to whip the egg whites before mixing and baking. We skip this step and the results are perfection in a biscuit and a lot of saved time!
Having no wheat flour, the texture is so different to regular biscuits. We love the use of almond flour in this for the rich nutty flavour and texture.
Related: Koulourakia Greek Easter Cookies / Italian Cuddura Biscuits
What are Italian Almond Biscuits?
A type of macaroon, these light and nutty biscuits are sometimes referred to as Ricciarelli or Amaretti Cookies. There are many variations, but they’re essentially crispy, light cookies with a chewy, soft centre.
While these are traditionally eaten in Italy at Christmas, and accompanied by a dessert wine might we add! We say they’re good any time of year.
If you want to use almonds and make your own almond flour, we’ve whittled the preparation process down to less than 10 minutes to crush the almonds, blend with sugar, egg whites and almond essence, and roll up into little icing sugar coated cookie ball morsels. Just as a time comparison.
For a crunchy almond biscuit, try our cantucci (Italian almond biscotti) instead!
What You’ll Need
Almond flour and almond essence are probably the two ingredients you may not already have on hand, otherwise the rest are pantry staples!
How to make Italian Almond Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 180˚C (350˚F) and line your baking tray with baking paper. Place your almond flour, egg whites, caster sugar and essences in a bowl and mix well with a fork.
Sprinkle your icing sugar on chopping board or plate. Spoon a small scoop of mixture onto the board and coat generously with icing sugar while gently rolling into a ball.
Bake for around 15 minutes, until the outsides are nicely crispy yet the cookies are still soft inside.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Crispy Tip – If you want crispier biscuits, cook them for a few minutes longer.
- Runny? -The mixture will be quite runny, and that’s completely normal.
- Leftover egg yolks? Make Italian almond crescent cookies next!
FAQs
You don’t have to whip the egg whites in this recipe. You can if you like, but it’s not necessary if you want to save time. Why not try both ways and see what you prefer?
Yes, almond flour is finely ground almonds. So you can use either. The first time we cooked it we ground the almonds ourselves, and the second time around we used almond flour. Both work!
Yes! You can freeze Italian almond biscuits and thaw them out as you want them or you can keep them in a sealed container for up to a week either on the bench or in the fridge. We kept ours out on the bench in our biscuit jar.
Yes! As it uses almond flour instead of wheat flour, this is okay to cook for you or gluten-free friends.
Variations
- If you can’t find almond flour, you can finely ground almonds instead. In a pinch, you could also sub for pecans or walnuts however the outcome and flavour would be quite different.
- You can pop a whole almond in the centre of each biscuit to make their presentation a little fancier.
More delicious recipes to try next:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment & star rating below!
Ingredients
- 1½ cups almond flour or finely ground almonds
- 2 egg whites lightly whisked
- ¾ cup caster sugar / superfine sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp almond essence
- ¼ cup icing sugar / powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180˚C (350˚F) and line your baking tray with baking paper.
- Place your almond flour, lightly whisked egg whites, caster sugar and vanilla essence and almond essence in a bowl and mix well with a fork.1½ cups almond flour, 2 egg whites, ¾ cup caster sugar / superfine sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp almond essence
- Sprinkle your icing sugar on a chopping board or plate.¼ cup icing sugar / powdered sugar
- Spoon a small scoop of mixture onto the board and coat generously with icing sugar while gently rolling into a ball.
- Bake for around 15 minutes, until the outsides are nicely crispy yet the cookies are still soft inside.
Video
Recipe Notes
- If you want a crispier result, cook it for a few minutes longer.
- The mixture will be quite runny, and that’s completely normal.
- Do you have to whip the egg whites? You don’t have to whip the egg whites in this recipe. You can if you like, but it’s not necessary if you want to save time. Why not try both ways and see what you prefer?
- Is almond flour the same as ground almonds? Yes, almond flour is finely ground almonds. So you can use either. The first time we cooked it we ground the almonds ourselves, and the second time around we used almond flour. Both work!
- Can you freeze these cookies? Yes! You can freeze them and thaw them out as you want them or you can keep them in a sealed container for up to a week either on the bench or in the fridge. We kept ours out on the bench in our biscuit jar.
- Is this a gluten-free recipe? Yes! As it uses almond flour instead of wheat flour, this is okay to cook for you or gluten-free friends.
- If you can’t find almond flour, you can finely ground almonds instead. In a pinch, you could also sub for pecans or walnuts however the outcome and flavour would be quite different.
- You can pop a whole almond in the centre of each biscuit to make their presentation a little fancier.
48 Comments
Marcus Tullett
27/03/2024 at 7:37 amI work in care made these for the residents they loved them ty
Wandercooks
27/03/2024 at 12:42 pmAww that’s amazing Marcus, how nice of you to make a batch for them. Thanks for sharing! 😀
Debbie
15/03/2024 at 8:03 pmI made a vegan version of these by just subbing the egg whites with aquafaba (water from tinned chickpeas) and it worked brilliantly! I doubled quantities, so I could use the whole tin of water, but 3 tbs is approximately 1 egg white. Thank you for such a super simple recipe !
Wandercooks
18/03/2024 at 11:18 amOh brilliant work Debbie! Thanks for letting us know the quantities of the subs, we can add this into the recipe tips for those wanting to do the same. 😀
Saj
01/01/2024 at 6:12 amI loved these ones that a friend had made. Any way to make these sugarfree?
Wandercooks
01/01/2024 at 4:14 pmSo glad you enjoyed Saj! Unfortunately, these are unable to be made sugar free though with our version.
Scarlett
28/12/2023 at 4:52 pmI’m not sure what I did wrong but my batter was really sticky and i couldn’t roll it – i kept adding more almond flour to try and fix it but no luck. Any ideas? Thanks!
Wandercooks
31/12/2023 at 12:56 pmThis is a naturally super sticky batter. Like SUPER sticky. So it’s not you – it’s perfect. It is a little tricky to work with and no need to add extra flour. Watch the video of the recipe and you’ll see I spoon it onto the icing sugar and carefully cover it enough to then lightly pick it up and pop onto the baking tray. You’ll get it next round – we believe in you! 🙂
Shirley
07/09/2023 at 10:16 pmMade these because I searched for a recipe for my 2 egg whites— omg I shared with my sister and my neighbor so only had 2 out of the batch— my sister tried to take the whole batch once she tasted these! These are SO good! Thank you for a fantastic easy cookie recipe!
Wandercooks
08/09/2023 at 9:02 amHaha that’s great Shirley, sorry to hear you only had 2 :P, time for another batch then?
Joanna
10/02/2024 at 7:52 pmThese are the best things I’ve ever baked. They are so easy and taste so good. I just did the whole thing in my food processor with a mixture of whatever nuts I had at home. I want to dip them in melted dark chocolate next time. Thanks for the recipe.
Wandercooks
12/02/2024 at 11:56 amThat is awesome – we hadn’t tried it with mixed nuts before, so thanks for the tip! 😀 LOVE using things up this way.
Catherine McCartney
29/05/2023 at 4:40 pmOmg I have made these three days in a row!! The whole family and friend’s cannot get enough of them. While my friend popped in the other night I gave her a bag of 6 to take home and as she chatted away heading out the door she had already ate 4!! Too good..
Wandercooks
11/06/2023 at 1:20 pmHaha that’s fantastic Catherine! They really are a good go-to bikkie recipe. 😀
Kelly
04/04/2023 at 7:20 pmThese were sensational! I will definitely make again. I added the zest of 2 lemons, and a tablespoon on poppyseeds (just to give them a twist!). Everyone LOVED them – adults & kids alike! So easy, delicious & gluten free, thank you!
Wandercooks
05/04/2023 at 8:06 amOh you’re very welcome! Cute idea with the poppy seeds too. 😀