Ratafia Biscuits

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Ratafia Biscuits are small, round, light brown almond-flavoured biscuits.

They have a light texture from the whipped egg white used to leaven them, and end up crisp, but chewy.

Traditionally, Ratafia Biscuits didn't usually have any grain flour in them, and used instead a meal of ground apricot kernels or almonds. You'd mix the meal with beaten egg white and sugar, then form into cookies and bake. Ideally, you pipe the cookies out onto the baking sheet.

Some modern recipes will call for a bit of wheat flour, ground almonds, and a few drops of Ratafia to be added.

Cooking Tips
In desserts, Ratafia Biscuits can be crumbled and used as a "meal", or used whole in desserts such as in trifles. Or, they can simply be served on their own with coffee.

Substitutes
Another almond flavoured cookie, such as macaroons, amaretti biscuits.

Storage
Store Ratafia Biscuits opened packages in a sealed container for up to 1 month.

History
Early Ratafia biscuits didn't have almond flavouring in them, they were simply meant to be nibbled on while drinking Ratafia, which provided the almond flavour.

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