While we're on the subject of anise cookies, though Siena is best known for Panforte, a rich Christmas pastry made with almonds, honey, flour and candied fruit, the town's cooks have also been making solid, chewy anise cookies called cavallucci since at least the 16th century. The name means "little horses;" Giovanni Righi Parenti says they are a gentrified version of a pastry for the servants, and since they were originally made for those in the stables, that's where their name comes from.
Ingredients:
- 4 1/5 cups (500 g) flour
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) sugar
- 1 ounce (by weight, about 2 tablespoons) honey
- 1 ounce (by weight) anise seeds
- About 1 1/2 teaspoons of ammonium bicarbonate (buy it from a chemist's, or substitute double acting baking powder)
Preparation:
Begin by dissolving the honey and sugar in 4/5 cup of water and simmering the mixture until the syrup dripped from the spoon forms threads. Once the syrup reaches this stage stir in the remaining ingredients (knead in the bicarbonate last). The resulting dough will fairly stiff. Let it sit for a couple of hours, then roll it out into a 3/4-inch diameter cylinder. Pluck off inch-long pieces, shape them roughly into balls, flour them lightly, and put them on a lightly floured baking tin. Bake them until lightly browned in a 320-360 degree oven (160-180 F), at which point they will be dry but chewy, and let them rest for a day before serving them, with a bone-dry vinsanto or a zesty young red wine.
