Castagnelle | The Best Italian Christmas Cookies Recipe
Castagnelle are indeed the best Christmas cookies from Apulia: such a magic, fragrant blend of almonds, citrus fruit zests and spices.
Servings: 60 cookies
Ingredients
- 200 gr Almonds Blanched
- 200 gr Flour
- 160 gr Sugar
- 130 gr Water
- 20 gr Cocoa Powder
- 1 tablespoon Orange Extract or Zest
- 1 Lemon Zest
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon White Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
Instructions
- Toast the almonds in a pan or for 10 minutes in a 180°C (350°F) preheated oven. Allow the almonds to cool down completely.
- Roughly chop the almonds in a food processor or with a knife.
- In a bowl sieve flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Add sugar, lemon and orange zest, cinnamon, vanilla and white pepper and mix well.
- Add almonds and water.
- Work the dough until it comes together.
- Roll segments of dough into sausages, flat each sausage to a 4-5mm thickness and cut the cookies into diamonds with a sharp knife.
- Arrange onto a tray covered with baking paper or silicon matt and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Notes
Cookies need to be still a bit soft when baked. They will firm up once they've cooled down onto a cooling rack.