Ricciarelli di Siena

Chop the candied orange peel very finely.

Check No piece bigger than a grain of rice; it is almost a paste.

Tip Our guide: slice it thinly with a sharp knife, then chop across, again and again. The specification allows candied orange peel or a citrus essential oil, not fresh zest.

Tip Our guide: closer to Artusi's scent of orange peel, a drop or two of food-grade orange essential oil may go in with the almond extract instead; the specification allows either.

Grind the peeled almonds finely; they are then worked together with the sugar and the egg white.

Check A fine, dry powder that runs through your fingers, with no pieces of almond left and no sign of oil.

Tip Artusi pounded them very fine in a mortar with two tablespoons of the sugar, added in several goes.

Tip Our guide: in the food processor, the almonds with 2 tablespoons of the 220 g of sugar, in short pulses of a few seconds, adding those 2 tablespoons in two goes. Stop as soon as it is as fine as flour: ground too long, it clumps and turns oily.

Tip the ground almonds into the large bowl and mix in the rest of the sugar, the ammonium bicarbonate, crushed to a powder between your fingers, and the chopped candied peel.

Check An even, sandy mixture, with no lumps of raising agent and the peel spread through it.

Tip Our guide: a pinch is enough for this batch. The specification requires a raising agent, and Artusi uses none.

Whisk the 60 g of egg white in the clean bowl until white and firm, then whisk in the almond extract.

Check The whites hold a peak when you lift the whisk.

Tip Any trace of yolk or grease in the bowl stops them from whipping.

Tip the almond mixture into the whites and stir with the wooden spoon until no dry powder is left.

Check A soft, even paste that holds together when pressed, a little sticky.

Sift a thin layer of icing sugar over the board, turn the paste onto it and dust the top. Roll it out lightly with the rolling pin into a soft sheet half a finger thick, about 1 cm.

Check An even sheet about 1 cm thick, not sticking to the board or the pin.

Tip Artusi rolled it on a light layer of flour. The specification allows no flour at all; on this page icing sugar, which it does allow, takes its place. If the paste sticks, dust on a little more, never flour.

Cut the paste into portions by hand, giving each the characteristic shape of a rounded lozenge.

Check Weigh the first one: about 25 g. Baked, the specification allows 10 g–30 g, 5 cm–10.5 cm along the long diagonal and 3 cm–6.5 cm along the short one.

Tip Our guide: lay the card lozenge, about 8 cm long and 4.5 cm wide with rounded points, on the paste and cut round it with the small knife. Gather the scraps, roll them out once more and cut again.

Tip Our guide: Artusi's own shape, about 9 cm by 5.5 cm, made 16 to 18 pieces, by our estimate close to 30 g each; this smaller one keeps them within the specification's limit.

Lay the pieces on starch wafers before baking, if you use them; the wafers stay on the ricciarelli.

Check In rows of three across the tray, about 1.5 cm apart. If they do not all fit, bake the rest afterwards on a second tray.

Tip Artusi spread the wafers over a layer of bran in the tray. Our guide: baking paper under the wafers is enough at home.

Tip Our guide: without wafers, lay them straight on the baking paper. The specification makes the wafers optional.

Dust the ricciarelli generously with icing sugar before baking.

Check Each one is white all over, with no paste showing through.

Tip Our guide: sift the rest of the 40 g over them from a little height, so that it settles evenly.

Cut away the wafer that sticks out beyond each ricciarello, with the small scissors or the knife.

Check Each one sits on its own wafer, with none showing round the edge.

Serve them at the end of a meal, with coffee or tea, or with Vin Santo or Moscadello di Montalcino. Keep the rest in a tin with a tight lid.