Italian Cuisine
Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ sticks
(250 g) of butter at room temperature.
- 2 ¾ cups (375
g) of cake flour.
- Over 1 cup
(125 g) of powdered sugar.
- 2 medium eggs
and 1 yolk at room temperature.
- Pinch of salt.
- Zest of an lemon,
orange, or a tsp of whichever flavored extract you like.
Directions:
- Put the
softened butter and lemon zest into the bowl of a kitchen mixer. At this point
you can add whatever flavorings you like.
- Whip the mixture
until the butter is soft and creamy.
- sift the
powder sugar to keep clumps from forming and add it to the butter.
- Start the
mixer again and run it for another few minutes until the resulting mixture has
become very foamy and are whipped to stiff peaks.
- Remember that
after the mixer has run for about a minute, stop it and run the sides of the
bowl with a spatula to reincorporate any sugar that's gone up the sides.
- Add the eggs
one at a time. Add one, lower the mixer and only when it's completely mixed in
add the next.
- Just before
stopping the mixer, add the pinch of salt and let it mix in for another minute.
- Then shut off
the mixer and remove the bowl. Fold in the sifted flour by hand. Use a spatula
with a long handle for this.
- After it's
all mixed, put the batter into a pastry bag with a medium star-shaped nozzle.
- Squeeze the
batter out onto a greased pan in whatever shape you'd like, rings, horseshoes...
- Decorate the
biscuits with candied or dried fruit.
- If you don't
like using a pastry bag, you can use a cookie press with the same effect.
- Chill the
biscuits
in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Bake it at
350F for 10 to 15 minutes. Pay close attention to them while baking so that
they stay a light color.
- These crumbly
cookies are perfect with tea, coffee, hot chocolate.