Canestrelli are famous daisy-shaped cookies with a hole in the center typical of Italian pastry, suitable for any time of day from breakfast to tea or to enjoy as a snack.
As with every traditional recipe, there are numerous versions depending on the Italian region where they are made. The most well-known are the TORRIGLIA CANESTRELLI, typical of Liguria, and naturally the PIEMONTESE CANESTRELLI. The main difference between these two types of canestrelli is that the first uses raw eggs while the second uses hard-boiled egg yolks, but they both share the same deliciousness!
Today we will prepare together the original Piemontese Canestrelli recipe with a dough based on hard-boiled egg yolks, flour, potato starch, and powdered sugar, all simple ingredients with which we will obtain crumbly and buttery cookies that literally melt in your mouth!
These are easy and quick cookies that do not involve any particular difficulty of execution: the secret to preparing perfect homemade Canestrelli is their special dough, which must be creamy and lump-free for a result worthy of the best pastries.
To flavor the canestrelli, I used only Vanilla but you can add, for example, orange, almond, or lemon aroma to create the perfect aromatic mix to your liking.
Follow step by step the instructions of the canestrelli recipe and you will get cookies with a crumbly and light texture, a real delight, and trust me, you won’t buy them in the pastry shop anymore because they are better than the originals!
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: about 40 canestrelli
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 369.82 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 43.36 (g) of which sugars 14.71 (g)
- Proteins 3.69 (g)
- Fat 21.08 (g) of which saturated 13.14 (g)of which unsaturated 7.86 (g)
- Fibers 0.41 (g)
- Sodium 54.08 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 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 needed to prepare the canestrelli recipe
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups potato starch
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup butter
- 3 yolks (hard, obtained from boiled eggs)
- 1 sachet vanilla
- 1 pinch salt
- powdered sugar
Tools
- Small Pot
- Bowl
- Spoon
- Sieve
- Plastic Wrap
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie Cutter
- Baking Pan
ORIGINAL CANESTRELLI RECIPE Step by Step
Before starting to prepare the canestrelli, I recommend boiling the eggs to get the hard yolks, it will take 5 – 7 minutes.
In a large bowl, pour the dry ingredients: flour, potato starch, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Mix the powders with a spoon to combine.
Make a well in the mix of powders and pour in the softened butter and sifted hard egg yolks through a fine-mesh strainer. First, combine the butter with the yolks, and then with a spoon, gradually incorporate the flour mix. Continue kneading by hand until the dough is almost formed.
Move the dough onto a work surface and continue to work it by hand briefly, just to obtain a smooth and homogeneous composition. Avoid overworking to prevent warming the “shortcrust” and compromising the canestrelli’s crumbliness. Form a dough ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
After the time has passed, take the dough ball, transfer it onto a lightly floured work surface, and roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 0.4-0.5 cm. It should not be too thin or too thick. Cut out the canestrelli using the special daisy-shaped cutter and arrange them immediately on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Before baking, place the canestrelli back in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Then bake in a preheated static oven at 350 °F for about 12 – 13 minutes: they should lightly brown but remain fairly pale. Once cooked, take them out and allow them to cool completely to avoid breaking them. Then remove them from the baking sheet and if desired, dust with powdered sugar.
STORAGE
Once ready, Canestrelli can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for about 15 days.
HISTORY OF CANESTRELLI
The name CANESTRELLI likely comes from the ancient wicker baskets called canestri, where cooks of the past would place freshly baked sweets. They are believed to have originated as early as the seventeenth century, with the oldest recipe dating back to 1633, and the first iron mold for making them from 1750. Legend has it that in the nineteenth century, noble families would give the family recipe for canestrelli as a precious dowry. The preparation of these cookies was so significant that it was customary to recite a prayer while cooking each side.
