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Home » Popular » Christmas Cookies » Chocolate Canestrelli

Chocolate Canestrelli

By: Rosemary Published: December 19, 2018 Updated on: October 29, 2021

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Table of Contents

      • A delicious Italian Cookie, Canestrelli, crunchy, buttery with a taste of chocolate. A fast and easy cookie to add to your Christmas baking list.
  • Chocolate Canestrelli Cookies
      • Never Miss a Recipe!
  • Why use a Food Processor?
  • How to make Chocolate Canestrelli
  • How to store Chocolate Canestrelli Cookies
  • More Delicious Italian Cookies
  • Chocolate Canestrelli Cookies
    • Ingredients US CustomaryMetric 1x2x3x
    • Instructions 
    • Nutrition

A delicious Italian Cookie, Canestrelli, crunchy, buttery with a taste of chocolate. A fast and easy cookie to add to your Christmas baking list.

chocolate canestrelli cookies in a wooden box with a cup of teaChocolate Canestrelli Cookies

These Italian cookies are perfect with an afternoon cup of tea. A crumbly flower shaped biscuit which originated in Piedmont and Liguria.

making chocolate canestrelli cookies, dry ingredients in food processor with egg yolks in a bowl

Mixed dry ingredients and egg yolks.

dry ingredients and butter mixed in food processor

Coarse crumbs made with butter and dry ingredients.

ingredients for canestrelli cookies all mixed

Almost combined ingredients.

chocolate canestrelli dough wrapped in plastic
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    Gently kneaded dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

    cutting out flowers for chocolate canestrelli cookies

    Roll out the dough and cut out the cookies.

    canestrelli cookies ready for baking

    Cookies ready for baking.

    Why use a Food Processor?

    A few of my Italian cookie recipes use a Food Processor (which by the way is quite popular here in Italy) to bring the dough together.

    Why? Because you might think that there is not enough wet ingredients compared to dry, therefore the dough must come together quickly but gently. So pulsing with a food processor is the choice.

    Unfortunately using your hands is not going to work because your hands cannot work fast or hard enough to bring Canestrelli dough together and you don’t want to add any extra butter!

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    canestrelli cookies in a box

    How to make Chocolate Canestrelli

    • Boil the eggs for 8 minutes (hard boiled), let cool then smash with a fork.
    • Sift together the flour, sugar, salt, cornstarch and cocoa
    • Then add the cold butter cut into pieces
    • Pulse a few times until you have coarse crumbs
    • Then add the egg yolks and pulse until combined, it may take a bit so be patient.
    • Move the dough to a flat surface and knead gently until combined.
    • Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate 1-2 hours or even overnight.
    • Roll the dough into 1/3 inch ( 1 cm) thickness.
    • Cut out with small flower shaped cookie cutter and in the middle using a straw or even a small holed pastry tip make a hole in the middle.
    • Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes, let cool completely then dust with powdered sugar.

    reaching for a chocolate canestrelli cookie

    How to store Chocolate Canestrelli Cookies

    Cookies should be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.

    More Delicious Italian Cookies

    Wine Cookies

    Italian Orange Ricotta Cookies

    Italian S Cookies

    Traditional Italian Breakfast Cookies

    Canestrelli Cookies are an Italian traditional Christmas Cookie that I hope you enjoy!

    up close chocolate canestrelli cookie

    up close chocolate canestrelli cookie

    Chocolate Canestrelli Cookies

    Rosemary Molloy
    A delicious Italian Cookie, Canestrelli, crunchy, buttery with a taste of chocolate. A fast & easy Christmas Cookie.
    5 from 2 votes
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 12 mins
    Chilling Time 2 hrs
    Total Time 22 mins
    Course Christmas Cookies, cookies, Dessert
    Cuisine Italian
    Servings 50 cookies
    Calories 44 kcal

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 1 cup flour (140 grams)
    • 1/2 cup + 1/2 tablespoon powdered / icing /confections sugar (75 grams)
    • 1 pinch salt
    • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons corn starch (80 grams)
    • 3 tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened / 20 grams)
    • 2/3 cup butter (cold / 150 grams)
    • 3 hard boiled egg yolks

    Instructions
     

    • Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water, heat until boiling, then remove from heat and let sit 8-10 minutes. Place under cold water. Remove the shell and white part of the eggs, let the hard boiled yolks cool then mash well with a fork.
    • Sift together the flour, sugar, salt, corn starch and cocoa into the bowl of your Food Processor, add the cold cut up butter and pulse a few times until you have coarse crumbs.
    • Then add the mashed cooled egg yolks and pulse until the dough almost combs together.  Move to a flat surface and gently knead into a compact smooth dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or even over night.
    • Pre-heat oven to 335° (170° celsius). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
    • Remove dough from fridge, on a lightly floured flat surface, start with rolling out half the dough to 1/3 inch  (1 cm) thickness and cut with a small size flower cookie cutter, using a straw or any small round hole cutter, cut a hole in the middle of the flower.  Place cut out flowers on prepared cookie sheets and bake for approximately 12 -14 minutes, cookies should not brown. Let cookies rest 5 minutes then move to wire racks to cool,  dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 44kcalCarbohydrates: 4gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 23mgPotassium: 9mgSugar: 1gVitamin A: 90IUCalcium: 3mgIron: 0.2mg
    Keyword chocolate canestrelli, Italian chocolate cookies, Italian cookies
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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      1. Jell Melton says

        December 9, 2020 at 7:04 am

        Am I missing something? You say to hard boil the eggs, remove the shell then mash the with a fork. Then you only use the yolks in the recipe.

        Is there supposed to be an instruction where you remove and discard the whites of the eggs after shelling and smash only the yolks? It doesn’t make any sense the way it’s written

        Reply
        • Rosemary says

          December 9, 2020 at 11:59 am

          Hi Jell, sorry about that, I corrected the instructions. You use just the hard boiled egg yolks. Hope that helps.

          Reply
      2. Sandh says

        December 2, 2020 at 12:05 am

        5 stars
        Ive just discovered your site! The recipes seem amazing. Cant wait to try some of the cookie recipes! Thanks for sharing

        Reply
        • Rosemary says

          December 2, 2020 at 5:06 pm

          Hi Sandh, thanks so much, let me know what you try and how it goes. Take care.

          Reply

      Hi, I'm Rosemary.

      Living in Italy I learned to cook authentic Italian dishes using whole ingredients, fresh veggies and delicious spices. So take a seat and have a taste! Read More

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