For dough
2 cups ground almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 large egg white, beaten

for decoration
about 1/8 icing sugar

Yield: about 14 biscuits

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix ground almonds, sugar, honey, cinnamon and lemon zest.

Mix almond mixture with beaten egg white to make a firm dough.

Knead until the dough is smooth and malleable -- about 5 minutes.

Shape the dough into "rounds."

Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated 300 F. degree oven until done -- about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool.

Before serving sprinkle with icing sugar

The recipe in this entry was adapted from the one in "The Festive Food of Italy" by Maddalena Bonino (London: Kyle Cathie Limited, 1991). The book can be borrowed for free at the on-line public library, www.openlibrary.org. P.S. The biscuits, "Fiore di Mandorlo," are supposed to look like flowering almond blossoms after they are baked. I would have liked mine to have that look, but somehow what I came up with did not resemble a blossom.... Words on plate: "An apple, a book and a passion to cook." Photo: Mary Melfi.

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