Befana’s Camel Cookies, a fun, easy, and delicious recipe. These are crumbly cookies with a vanilla scent and are a must on the day of the Befana. Indeed, the legend says that on a cold winter night, the Magi, riding a camel, were traveling to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus and asked an old woman for directions, and she showed them the way. The Magi invited her to join them, but she refused. The old woman regretted not going with them, so she prepared a bag full of sweets and went looking for them, but unfortunately, she couldn’t find them. So she started knocking on doors, giving sweets to every child, hoping one of them was baby Jesus.
It’s a treat for the Befana to make with our children; just draw the shape of the camel (you can also find it online), roll out the pastry, place the shape on top, cut out the cookie, decorate it, and then bake it.
Let’s find out how to make them!
See you soon, Susy
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
- Energy 191.97 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 26.14 (g) of which sugars 8.72 (g)
- Proteins 3.03 (g)
- Fat 8.84 (g) of which saturated 5.51 (g)of which unsaturated 3.21 (g)
- Fibers 0.44 (g)
- Sodium 7.58 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 40 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Befana’s Camel Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pod vanilla (seeds)
- as needed sugar pearls (colored)
- 1 egg white (to make sugar pearls stick)
You will need
- Bowl
- Brush
- Parchment paper
How to make Befana’s Camel Cookies
In a bowl, put the softened butter cut into pieces with the powdered sugar and the seeds from the vanilla pod. Work with a spoon, then add the egg and the egg yolk and mix to absorb the ingredients well.
Incorporate the flour and potato starch and work with your hands, kneading until you get a homogeneous dough. Wrap it in parchment paper and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.
After the resting time of the pastry, take it out of the fridge, roll it out with the help of a rolling pin and cut out the cookies with the camel shape, placing them gently on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Beat an egg white and with a small brush, moisten the two humps and the legs and decorate with colored sugar pearls.
Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, remove from the oven, let cool, and then you can serve!
