Sicilian Almond Cookies
They make the celebration complete.

Holiday memories from when I was a kid include what seemed like an endless amount of food on the long folding tables at the church potlucks that were held every December. Among the ambrosia and fried chicken you could always find these cookies, crowned with a cherry on top in a cheerful red. A staple of the season, these Sicilian Almond Cookies are a labor of love, but all things considered they aren’t as complicated as many other European cookies.
To make these cookies you need some patience and skill with a piping bag, but I’ll get into that later (and give you an alternate method to make these).

The flavor of these delightful cookies is a lot like marzipan and that makes sense since there’s only almond flour in the dough, no regular flour at all. This type of cookie is traditional at many kinds of holidays in Italy and beyond, like Easter, Christmas, and other celebrations so it is really an all-occasion cookie!

These cookies get their volume from some egg whites. We’re not whisking them until they are firm and white, but we do want them to be foamy and to have increased in volume a little bit.

To go with the sweetness in the cookie is both lemon and orange zest. Fresh is best here, but if you have dried that can work, too.

Then once you add the other ingredients you’ll end up with a soft dough. It needs to be very soft in order to use a piping bag with it for that iconic swirl shape.
If you don’t want to deal with a piping bag at all then add extra almond flour (see step 3 below) to make the dough stiffer and moldable by hand. To make them this way you only need to be able to roll them into balls and make a little indent for the cherries to go.

For the cherries place we are making sure they are dry before they go onto the cookies. This avoids any unsightly dripping of that bright red cherry juice.
The piping tip to make these cookies was unexpected for me. I ended up using the largest one in my collection that wasn’t totally smooth. But, as an experiment I also did some cookies with a smaller star tip. You can see the difference in the image below. The larger the tip the easier it is to form the cookies.

These don’t need that long in the oven. You just want them golden around the edges and then they are a bit crisp while retaining that marzipan-like center. The cherry on top just makes these cookies even tastier. Since almond and cherry go so well together these little treats have big flavor!

For any festive occasion these Sicilian Almond Cookies are a show stopping addition to any cookie table or potluck spread.

Sicilian Almond Cookies
Yield(s): Makes 20-30 cookies
1h 30m prep time
16m cook time
74 calories
Diet: Gluten-Free, Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour, plus extra as needed
- 1 ⅔ cups powdered sugar, plus extra as needed
- 3 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- 10-15 Maraschino cherries, each cut in half
Preparation
- Sift together flour and sugar into mixing bowl. Beat egg whites in an another bowl until slightly increased in volume and pale in color, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add egg whites to flour mixture along with zests and extracts. Fold until uniform in color.
- Optional: if molding cookies rather than using a piping bag sift in extra 1/4 cup almond flour. Add 1 tablespoon at a time until dough holds together firmly. You may need less or more extra almond flour than listed here. Refrigerate for 30 minutes then roll into 20-30 balls then roll in some extra powdered sugar. Place on lined baking sheet. Press an indent into the center of each with knuckle of index finger. Skip steps 4 and 6 if using this method.
- Add dough to piping bag with a large star tip on it. Secure end of piping bag and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.
- Place halved cherries on paper towel-lined plate. Allow to drain then lightly press on tops with a fresh paper towel to really absorb the moisture.
- Use piping bag to make cookies in 2" swirl shapes on lined baking sheet. Or make star shapes by squeezing the piping bag at a 90˚ angle to the baking sheet. Repeat until you have 20-30 cookies.
- Place a single cherry on top of each cookie, cut-side down. For best results place pans in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or longer. When ready to bake preheat oven to 350˚F. Bake for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown on the bottoms.
- Allow to cool on cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before serving. These cookies are best enjoyed the same day they are made.
Recipe adapted from My Cookie Journey.











