I'm delighted about some Italian biscuits. In general they are not too sweet and usually they got nuts in their content. You may find some mild and pleasant aromas of vanilla and lemon (cantucci and canestrelli).
Canestrelli
Ingredients:
750 g butter
250 g confectioner's sugar
3 egg yolks
750 g flour
vanilla extract
lemon zest
pinch of salt
Procedures:
Beat well the butter (at room temperature) together with the sugar and egg yolks. Then add the salt, vanilla and lemon zest. Leave the dough in the fridge for 1 hour at least (if you are in a warm place like me, you might let it chill a little bit more). Open the dough with the roller, and flatten it around 5-6 mm thick - don't let it too thin or otherwise you'll get a crunchy biscuit which is not the case here. Let them in the oven at 170° C (338°F) for about 10-15 min. or till they get slightly brownish on the edges.
Ossa da Mordere al cacao
Ossa da mordere (Bones of the dead). Well the name doesn't really sounds nice. But their taste is amazing. These biscuits are from the Piedmont but the recipe I describe here is different from the traditional. I may try and post the original recipe later on (in the mean time you can find it here).Ingredients:
420g confectioner's sugar
75g unsweetened cocoa
100g egg whites
10g baking powder
45g starch
250g Toasted and peeled hazelnuts
vanilla
pinch of salt
Procedure:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Work on the dough till the egg whites incorporate the dry ingredients. It will be ready when you get a compact and slightly wet dough.
Work with your hands to make thin sticks of dough like the one below.
Cut in small chunks and take them to the oven at 170° C (338°F) for 10-12 minutes. Beware the fact you are not going to bake them, you just need to dry them a bit.
Cantucci
This is a Tuscan native recipe, traditionally served with dessert wine Vin Santo.Ingredients:
1000g flour
600g granulated sugar
250g whole eggs
400g raw almonds
250g butter
15g baking powder
5g salt
Vanilla
Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I usually mix the dry ingredients and then add the wet ones.
Now, make dough sticks. But it is not easy since this dough is a bit sticky (you may try to make them using a pastry bag).
Take the sticks into the oven for 15-20min. at 180° C (356° F) or till they get resistant to touch. Now comes a tricky part. Some people say you must slice the sticks while they're still warm. Well for me works the opposite. I let them cool on a rack.
Use a sharp serrated knife to cut 12-18mm thick slices. Note that some slices will just break apart. Be patient I saw good Chefs facing the same problem.
Once you've sliced all sticks, spread them evenly into the oven at 170° C (338°F) and slightly toast both sides for about 8-10min. Note that once again this procedure is just to dry the cantucci and not really toast them.
