Abruzzo tarallucci

This year, for the holidays, my mother and grandmother dusted off a traditional recipe and I happily rediscovered the taste of a sweet I used to eat as a child and had almost forgotten: tarallucci.

Many regions have taralli, each with its own ingredients: often they are savoury, flavoured with rosemary or chilli. Ours, instead, are sweet little rings, with a crunchy crust and a soft, flavourful heart.

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Flour as needed
• White wine to taste (or a little cognac)
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds

1. Make a well of flour and put the eggs, sugar, oil, wine and anise seeds in the centre.
2. Knead until all the flour is absorbed: the dough should be firm enough to work by hand on the board.
3. Take small pieces of dough, roll them into ropes and join the ends to form little rings.
4. Drop the tarallucci into plenty of boiling water and cook until they float: careful, they tend to stick to the bottom, so keep an eye on them!
5. Drain them and lay them on a cotton cloth to dry.
6. Bake at 180 °C until puffed, golden and fragrant.

• White wine makes the dough more elastic and helps the final result; with cognac the flavour is stronger.
• Stir the water gently while they boil, so the tarallucci do not stick to the bottom.
• They are excellent at breakfast, dunked in hot milk, or as an afternoon snack.
• Keep them in a tin: they stay good for several days.

Double cooking – boiling and then baking – is an old technique shared by many sweets and breads of southern Italy: it makes the outside shiny and crisp and helps them keep for a long time.

In the Chieti area tarallucci are made above all for the holidays, and in many families the recipe passes from grandmother to granddaughter, with small variations from village to village.