It's the fivth of December and here we are with the second Italian cookie already!
I hope you're ok with that; I have an Italian (almost-)husband after all.
And we went to Turin only a few weeks ago, and I came back all nostalgic and thinking about Italian sweets.
Speaking of sweets, many of them usually are too sweet if you buy them. When I replicate them at home I'm happy I can adjust the sugar content to my taste.
So these are another Piedmontese classic. Paste di Meliga or Biscotti di Meliga are simple crisp cookies that get their unique texture from the addition of cornmeal (meliga = polenta) to their dough. It's more common to find them piped than rolled and cut out, but I was looking for more christmassy cookie shapes here. They're good either way. I left them simple as they come out of the oven. People eat them for breakfast, you know (not me!), so no decoration here!
You could also dip them in hot chocolate or zabaione (the latter is the traditional way).
Recipe (inspired by this recipe. makes about 30 cookies)
150 grams flour (half white, half whole wheat, kamut or spelt)
50 grams fine polenta
80 grams golden cane sugar
150 grams cold butter, cut into little cubes
2 egg yolks
zest of half a lemon
0,5 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
In a big bowl, combine the flours, salt, sugar and lemon zest and rub the butter cubes in with your fingertips. As soon as the mixture resembles wet sand or coarse breadcrumbs, add the vanilla and the egg yolks and combine.
Knead until you have a smooth dough. Form a ball, wrap it in clingfilm and leave it to rest in the fridge for an hour or so.
Preheat your oven to 170º C. Take out the dough and roll it out 8 mm thick on a floured surface. Cut out your cookies and place them on a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms and edges of the cookies are slightly golden. If you use two baking sheets rotate them once.
Leave on the sheet for some minutes, the cookies are very delicate when hot. Then transfer to a rack and let cool completely before storing or eating.
They keep for two weeks.
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