Recipes from Liguria: n° 2 - anicini

Pop art anicini!

ANICINI – ANISE BISCUITS

Also known as finocchini, these biscuits of probable Piedmontese origins are close relatives of Tuscan cantucci (an excellent pairing with vin santo…). Enjoy them cold, dusted with powdered sugar. Being dehydrated they keep on excellently – long live anicini!

Cooking time: approx. 40 minutes

Difficulty level: high

Wine matching: passito, e.g. (DOC Cinque Terre) Sciacchetrà

Ingredients:

500 g Italian “00” flour, 500 g sugar, 10 yolks and 10 egg whites, 1 small glass orange blossom water (approx. 80 ml), 1 teaspoon anise seeds, butter (enough to grease the moulds), powdered sugar (optional)

Blend the sugar and the yolks in a big mixing bowl. Whip the whites aside, then amalgamate the two mixtures and add the anise seeds, the orange blossom water and – last of all – the flour: stir on delicately, then let the concoction rest for a few minutes. Butter the inside of a plum cake pan (10 cm-wide) and pour the blend in. Level and bake in pre heated oven for around 20 minutes (160° C-170° C). Let cool and cut in oblique slices: put them on the oven plate and let bake for another 20 minutes (180° C-200° C).

A recipe by Umberto Curti, Ligucibario

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