ricciarelli

Ricciarelli are soft, diamond-shaped almond cookies dusted in powdered sugar, and Siena has made them since at least the 15th century. The most repeated origin story attributes them to Ricciardetto della Gherardesca, a nobleman said to have returned from the Crusades with Middle Eastern confections based on almond paste. Whether or not that story is accurate in its particulars, the almond paste at ricciarelli's center traces to Arab culinary tradition brought into Sicily and then northward.

The name ricciarelli comes from the Sienese dialect word riccio, meaning curly or crinkly, describing the wrinkled, cracked surface the cookies develop as they bake. A riccio is also a hedgehog, and the slight prickling of powdered sugar over a roughened surface makes the association plausible. The plural form ricciarelli is the only form that circulates in practice; no one orders a single ricciarello.

Marzipan traveled from the Arab world through Sicily and then northward into mainland Italian confectionery. By the 15th century, almond-based sweets appeared in Venetian and Florentine festival pastry, but Siena's version settled into a specific local form: flatter, more yielding, baked at lower heat to keep the interior soft. Protected status as an IGP product was granted in 2010, binding the name to Sienese production.

Unlike biscotti, which are baked twice to drive out moisture, ricciarelli are baked once at a low temperature, deliberately preserving a give that makes them fragile rather than durable. They do not travel well. That fragility is part of their character.