Italian cooking has many delicious dishes which are made with fresh ingredients. You can find lasagna, agnolotti, mushroom risotto, scaloppini, brasato, sea beam, etc.
For those of you who are particularly gluttonous of sweets and desserts, Italy has also a large list of cakes and biscuits you can taste or cook.
In this article, I’m going to introduce you to some typical Italian biscuits that you can cook at home and startle your friends and family.
1. TEGOLE D’AOSTA
The tegole d’Aosta, literally Aosta’s tile, are one of the typical Italian biscuits produced in the Italian region Valle d’Aosta.
They are wafer biscuits produced following an ancient recipe from Normandy and are made of almonds and hazelnuts.
If you want to try and cook them at home, the recipe isn’t difficult at all:
Ingredients
200g sugar
60g all-purpose flour
60g butter
80 g toasted almonds
80g toasted hazelnuts
4 egg whites
Salt
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Put the almonds and the hazelnuts in a blender or food processor with the sugar and process until ground.
Melt the butter. Put the almonds and the hazelnuts in a bowl with the flour, the melted butter and the vanilla. Stir until the butter is incorporated.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the flour mixture.
Preheat the oven at 180 C.
Take a baking pan, cover it with some baking paper and place a small amount – half a tablespoon – of dough on it, giving it the form of a circle. Continue, leaving at least 3 cm from one biscuit to another.
Bake at 180 C for 8 minutes.
2. AMARETTI DI SASSELLO
Amaretti di Sassello are one of the typical Italian biscuits produced in Liguria. These round soft biscuits are made of few ingredients, the main one being almonds.
Also this typical Italian biscuit is very easy to cook, here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
150g sweet almonds
50g bitter almonds
2 egg whites
200g sugar
Powdered sugar
Put the almonds in a blender or food processor with the sugar and process until ground.
In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the ground almonds.
Preheat the oven at 160 C.
Take a baking pan and cover it with some baking paper and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Take the dough, form small balls and place them on the baking paper, spacing 3cm apart.
Bake at 160 C for 20 minutes. Since each oven is different, remember to take them out of the oven when they’re staring to get brown.
3. BRUTTI MA BUONI
Brutti ma buoni, literally ugly but good, are typical Italian biscuits. Their origin is uncertain. Some say they’re from Lombardy, some others from Piedmont. Whatever their origin is, these Italian biscuits are really delicious and easy to cook.
Here is the recipe for brutti ma buoni:
Ingredients
300g toasted hazelnuts
250g sugar
4 egg whites
Salt
Finely chop hazelnuts.
In a bowl, put the salt and whisk the egg whites until foamy. Once foamy, keep whisking and gradually add the sugar – keep beating for 3-5 minutes.
Stop whisking and fold the hazelnuts into the mixture.
Put the mixture in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring to avoid that the bottom of the misture burns. Cook it for 10-12 minutes until it gets a little bit darker, light brown.
Preheat the oven at 150 C.
Take a baking pan and cover it with some baking paper. Helping yourself with a tablespoon, place a small amount of the misxture – half a tablespoon – on the baking paper, spacing 3cm apart.
Bake at 150 C for 20 minutes.
Among all the typical Italian biscuits, which is your favourite?
Credits
Original image by congerdesign
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