I love making cookies and I’m always looking for new recipes. Twenty years ago, I tried a recipe I found on the web that I’ve reworked so many times.
They are crunchy and not very sweet cookies embellished with a lemony glaze. Fresh and fragrant, they really make me think of spring.

Sweet Taralli

  • Preparation time: 40 minutes
  • For 40 cookies
  • Difficulty: Average difficult recipe

  • Ingredients
  • 500 g of all-purpose flour
  • 100 g of superfine sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 120 g of warm milk
  • 125 g of butter
  • 1 tablespoon of ammonium carbonate
  • 2 tablespoons of aniseed liqueur
  • For the glaze:
  • 300 g of sugar
  • 75 g of water
  • the grated peel of 1/2 lemon
  • the juice of half a lemon
  • To decorate:
  • Colorful sprinkles
  1. Instructions
  2. Work the butter with the sugar together, add the eggs and then half the flour.
  3. Put the ammonium carbonate in the warm milk and then add it to the mixture with the remaining flour and the liqueur.
  4. Knead just enough to absorb the flour well; the finished mixture is soft but not sticky.
  5. Turn the mixture out onto a floured work surface and take small portions of dough to form the taralli (25 g each). Form all the donuts, arrange them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper well-spaced apart (I used 4 baking sheets) and let them rest for half an hour at room temperature.
  6. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350°F.
  7. Bake the biscuits for about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once they are very cold, proceed with the icing.
  8. While the donuts are cooling, prepare the icing. Pour the water and then the sugar into a saucepan and mix with a spoon. Place on high heat and bring to the boil, without ever stirring, and wait a few minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and immerse it in another, slightly larger, full of iced water. At this point add the lemon juice and grated zest. Let the syrup cool without stirring. When it is lukewarm, with an electric whisk begin to emulsify the syrup which from viscous and transparent, will become creamy and very white. When it is like a soft cream, take the taralli and dip them only on the upper part, so that they glaze.
  9. Spread the sprinkles.
  10. Let them air dry before serving.

Tips to ensure the success of the dish:

  • The original recipe is with the lard but if I cannot find it I use the butter.
  • Do not work the dough too much.
  • Do not add too much lemon juice to the glaze otherwise it will not become viscous.