Almond Butter Cookies with Anise

Ciambelline
by Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber
from In Late Winter We Ate Pears
(Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009)
Makes 15-20 3-inch cookies.

Rome never sleeps. Beyond its many blocks of government ministry offices is a neighborhood complete unto itself: cheese shops; groceries and produce shops; hardware and motorcycle accessories stores; wineshops; shops selling hosiery, linens, discount clothing; and bread bakeries and pastry shops. The pastry shop on via Barletta is open twenty-four hours a day.

At a restaurant around the corner and a few blocks away, we were served  ring-shaped almond butter cookies (a ciambella) along with a sweet red dessert wine. Unfortunately, we left without the recipe. So good was just the memory of this cookie that we were forced to reconstruct it once we had returned home. Here is our recipe.—Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber

convert Ingredients
1 cup blanched almonds
Scant cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon whole anise seeds
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Method
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

2. In a food processor, pulverize almonds with 1/4 cup of the sugar until fine. Combine the almonds, flour, baking powder, salt, and anise seeds in a large bowl, mix together, and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and remaining sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughtly. Add one-third of the dry mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the remaining dry mixture in two additions.

4. Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment.

5. Drop the butter cookie batter by teaspoonfuls onto the greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. (Or you can pipe them out as 3-inch-diameter rings with a pastry bag and a plain tip. If the batter is stiff and difficult to pipe, loosen it up by adding one beaten egg white.)

6. Bake until the butter cookies just begin to turn golden brown at the edges, about 12 to 15 minutes, but watch carefully.

Recipe © 2009 Deirdre Heekin and Caleb Barber. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Leite’s Culinaria, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use.