Canestrelli are typical Italian cookies from Piedmont and Liguria. They are usually shaped like little flowers, all covered with icing sugar and among cookies they are one of my favourites. Super sweet and buttery flavoured, they warm up these first Autumn days!
I had an egg yolk left from a previous recipe, and as I hate throwing food away I used it for this delicious treat. It’s going to be super easy, believe me. Are you ready to start?
The ingredients are
150 gr. Flour
100 gr. Potato starch
70 gr. Icing sugar + 2/3 tablespoons for the final dusting
3 boiled egg yolks
Zest of one lemon
Vanilla beans
Forst of all, let’s boil the eggs (eight minutes will do) and once they’re cooled down take the boiled yolks and crumble them (you may sift them, or use a grater like I did). Put in your food processor flour, sugar and the zest, and the sifted yolks too and give it a good stir with the processor. After that, put into the food processor also the butter straight from the fridge (divide it in bits) and mix that all too – not too long, the mixture must look crumbly. Then put it onto a pastry board (or a clean table) and start kneading the dough. With the warmth of your hands the dough will get smooth. For a sort of pat and put it in the fridge covered with food film for about half an hour.
Take then the dough from the fridge, put it on the board and roll it with a rolling pin, it must be at least 1 centimetre thick. Take a flower-shaped cookie cutter and form your cookies (for the central whole I used the tip of a cannoli cutter, but you can also use the tip of a nozzle of a pastry bag).
Put the cookies on a tray and then into the oven preheated at 160 degrees. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Let them cool down and then dust them with icing sugar.
Try the recipe and then share with me your thoughts about it!
