In the Catania area, starting from the All Saints’ Day and following the Commemoration of the Dead until the entire Christmas period, the famous Nun’s cookies, also known as the “sacred esses” are prepared. These are dry cookies recognizable by their S shape and unmistakable anise aroma. Their name comes from the fact that they were prepared by cloistered nuns in the Santa Chiara Convent as an economic support for the religious community or as an offering to be distributed during religious celebrations. Fortunately, although the convent has closed, the recipe has not been lost over time, so much so that these aromatic cookies can still be found today in any bakery in the city of Catania and its province! They are undoubtedly iconic cookies in the daily life of the people of Catania, who traditionally enjoy them both at breakfast and as a sweet at the end of a meal, perhaps accompanied by a glass of Sicilian passito or Moscato wine. They are also perfect to bring to the table in the holiday basket along with pandoros or panettones or to give as sweet little gifts.
Below I leave you other typical sweet recipes from my land that you can try to make based on the holiday they are linked to or simply to discover their goodness comfortably at home:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 15 cookies
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Saints, Christmas
Ingredients
⚠ THIS RECIPE CONTAINS ONE OR MORE AFFILIATE LINKS. The products I recommend are the same ones I use in my recipes; purchasing them through my blog helps support me and my work, and it won’t cost you anything extra!
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (+ as needed for the work surface)
- 1/3 cup sugar (I use whole cane sugar)
- 1/4 cup butter (soft)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tbsp anise liqueur
- 2 tsp anise seeds
- 3/4 tsp star anise (ground)
- 3/4 tsp baker's ammonia (or baking powder)
Tools
- 1 Sieve
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 Hand Whisk
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Pizza Cutter
- 1 Baking Tray
- 1 Baking Mat
- 2 Gloves
Steps
In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and the baker’s ammonia dissolved in 2 tablespoons of milk taken from the total through a sieve and add them to the sugar.
Mix with a hand whisk and add the anise seeds and ground star anise, which will give the nun’s cookies their characteristic flavor.
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Mix and create a well in the center. At this point, add the soft butter in cubes, which you would have left at room temperature for about half an hour before starting to work, so that it is workable.
Start working all the ingredients with your hands inside the bowl until you form a sandy mixture.
Then add the anise liqueur
Finally add the milk at room temperature.
Work all the ingredients well until they are compacted.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface.
Continue working the dough until it is smooth and not sticky.
Lightly flour the work surface and with the help of a rolling pin roll out the dough to a thickness of about 3/8 inch.
With a pizza cutter, cut strips 3/4 inch wide, cutting in the opposite direction to obtain strips 16 inches long to form the cookies.
Curve each strip to form the typical S shape and gradually place these cookies on a baking tray lined with a micro-perforated mat or parchment paper.
If you love the taste of anise, you can brush the surface of the cookies with a little milk and garnish with a pinch of anise seeds, but this step is completely optional.
Bake in a preheated static oven at 390°F for 13′-15′ or until golden brown. Then remove the cookies, let them cool and bake them again at 320°F for another 10′*.
Remove from the oven and let them cool completely on a rack before enjoying them!
You can store them in a glass jar!
And voilà… the Catania nun’s cookies are ready to be enjoyed!
Bon Appétit from La Cucina di FeFè!
More shots…
Storage
👉Being dry cookies, the nun’s cookies are moisture-free, so they keep for a long time. Just store them in a cool, dry place to maintain their fragrance and crunchiness. A large glass jar with an airtight lid, for example, will work very well or a tin container.
Tips, notes, variations, and suggestions
🟣 * The second baking is needed to dry the cookies well inside so that they are nice and crumbly, which is a characteristic of the nun’s cookies. However, if you prefer a softer texture in cookies, bake them only once.
🟣For an even more rustic flavor, try replacing, as I did, half of the all-purpose flour with Type 1 flour and use whole cane sugar (not muscovado sugar, whose molasses content would give a too strong caramel flavor).
🟣The amount of anise seeds and liqueur can vary according to your taste, so if you love this intense and aromatic flavor, you can dare to slightly increase the amount of seeds in the dough and add them also on the surface as explained in the optional step of the recipe.
