On the 6th of January, the Epiphany is celebrated in Italy. Traditionally, the popular character typical of the Italian folklore is the Befana, a very nice old woman who flies on her magic broom between the roofs of the city.
Traditionally, the children leave a nice empty large sock under the Christmas tree on the eve of the 6th of January. During the night, the Befana will come to fill the socks with candies and sweets -if the children were good – or charcoal instead -if the children were naughty during the past year-.
These simple but delicious cookies, are what my sweet little niece will find in her sock, along with other delicacies. Since she loves this recipe, I decided to call these cookies with her name.
The ingredients are all of first choice and quality, for the maximum attention of what our children eat. However, I can assure you that even parents and grandparents appreciated these biscuits …. especially in the morning, soaked in hot milk 🙂
Ingredients
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350 g white Spelt flour (or white flour type 0)
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150 g brown icing sugar
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75 g dark chocolate chips
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75 ml extra virgin olive oil
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2 eggs
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1 organic orange (zest only)
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1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Preparation
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- – sift the flour in a big bowl;
- – sift the icing sugar and the baking powder onto the flour and mix well;
- – add the eggs and the extra virgin olive oil and mix well;
- – add the orange zest and the chocolate chips;
- – knead well till all ingredient are well amalgamated;
- – wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 60 minutes;
- – roll out the pastry into a disc with half centimeter thickness;
- – use a cutter with animals shapes to form your biscuits;
- – bake at 165 degrees for about 15/20 minutes or till golden;