Pel­le­gri­no Artusi is the leg­endary author of the clas­sic Tus­can cook­book “The Sci­ence of Cook­ing and the Art of Fine din­ing”, appeared in 1891. This book has aged so well that most of its recipes still work won­ders; I use it very often and these bis­cuits are some­thing I make reg­u­lar­ly, they are sim­ple and deli­cious.

Time: 40 min­utes

Ingre­di­ents

400 g flour
150 g sug­ar
80 g but­ter
40 g almonds
30 g raisins
20 g pine nuts
1 pinch of anise seeds
2 tbsp spir­it (whisky or cognac)
1 small tsp bak­ing soda
1 egg and 3 egg yolks
1 pinch of salt

  1. Pre­heat the oven at 200°
  2. In a large bowl, com­bine flour, eggs, but­ter, sug­ar, bak­ing soda, the spir­it and a pinch of salt.
  3. Work quick­ly and add almonds, pine nuts raisins, anise seeds.
  4. Form three logs and lay them on a bak­ing tray lined with parch­ment paper.
  5. Bake for 20 min­utes until gold­en brown then remove from the oven and let them cool for about ten min­utes.
  6. Using a sharp knife, cut diag­o­nal­ly in slices to obtain bis­cuits that are about 1,5 cm thick. Lay them again (on the side) on the bak­ing tray and bake for five more min­utes until gold­en brown.
  7. Let cool and store in a tin box.