Canestrelli

To prepare Canestrelli, start by boiling the eggs to make them hard-boiled: it will take 8 minutes in boiling water 1; the hard-boiled yolks will be added to the dough to ensure the right crumbliness. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together the flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar (2-3).

Then grate the zest of untreated lemon 4 and add the seeds of a vanilla bean 5; also incorporate cold butter, cut into pieces 6

and mix everything with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to combine the ingredients 7. When the eggs are hard-boiled, peel them 8 and keep only the yolk 9

which you can mash and strain through a sieve to make it creamier and more homogeneous 10. Then it will be added to the rest of the dough 11. Briefly mix the ingredients with a stand mixer 11, transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and quickly compact it by hand 12,

just enough time to form a soft and smooth dough. Flatten it slightly and wrap it in plastic wrap 13 (or place it in an airtight container) and leave it in the refrigerator for about 1 hour. After the necessary time, roll out the dough into a 1 cm thick disk 14 and with a 3 cm diameter flower-shaped cookie cutter, cut out the cookies 15; you can re-knead the scraps. In total, you will get 100 Canestrelli.

Then, create the typical central hole using a 1 cm diameter 16 cookie cutter (there are special Canestrelli cutters available on the market that allow you to directly form the central hole). Bake only a few Canestrelli at a time, spaced well apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper 17, in a preheated static oven at 170°C (338°F) for 18 minutes (you can also try with a convection oven, baking a first batch of a few cookies at 150°C [302°F] for 8-10 minutes): they should not brown. Once baked, remove them from the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack, then dust them with powdered sugar 18 and serve the Canestrelli as tea cookies or store them in small bags to give away on a special occasion.