Milanese Biscotti, or Biscottini di Milano: These are simple, but you'll find that they go very fast.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 1/5 cups (500 g) unbleached white flour
- rather than cake flour (Italian grade 00)
- 1 1/4 cups (250 g) sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, broken up into bits
- 4 egg yolks
- The grated zest of a lemon
- 1/2 cup warm water
Preparation:
Combine the flour and the sugar, make a mound of them, and scoop a well into it. Drop the yolks and the water into it, together with the butter and the zest, and work the dough until it is smooth and homogeneous.Roll the dough out into a moderately thick (1/4-inch, or 1/2-cm) sheet and cut it into rounds using a round cookie cutter, or into squares with a serrated pastry wheel. Put the cookies on greased, floured cookie sheets and bake them in a 340 F (170 C) oven until lightly browned.
Note: If you have bread flour (Italian grade 0), it will be perfect here. Since it's denser than white flour, you'll need less volume -- 4 cups minus a tablespoon -- for 500 g.
