Ligurian Canestrelli: Delicate Italian Shortbread Biscuits

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Ligurian canestrelli, daisy-shaped Italian shortbread biscuits generously dusted with icing sugar.

When I was little, I wasn't particularly fond of biscuits, especially packaged ones.

At home, we usually had the classic Saiwa biscuits and not much else. Every now and then, though, my mum would give in and buy a packet of Canestrelli from La Sassellese, which are still available today. And those were the biscuits I would happily eat – in fact, I would eat ALL of them!

For that reason, a recipe for Ligurian Canestrelli simply had to feature in my Biscuit Advent Calendar!

Over the years, I've discovered that the name canestrello is used in many parts of Italy for biscuits with quite different shapes and textures. I wanted to recreate the version closest to the ones I remember from childhood and share it with you.

In Liguria, you can often find special daisy-shaped cutters made specifically for these biscuits. I made do with a very old cutter I found somewhere ages ago, although I honestly can't remember where! My canestrelli therefore turned out a little larger than the ones I buy in shops (even if the photographs don't really show it, as I had nothing nearby to give a sense of scale). Never mind: they were well worth making!

Ligurian Canestrelli

These delicate Italian shortbread biscuits are traditionally shaped like little daisies, with a hole in the centre. Their tender, crumbly texture comes from a dough made with hard-boiled egg yolks, butter and potato starch.

Recipe

Yield: Approximately 20 biscuits
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Resting time: At least 1 hour in the refrigerator, plus 20 minutes chilling after shaping
Cooking time: Approximately 10 minutes per tray
Total time: Approximately 1 hour and 55 minutes, including chilling and baking (depending on the number of trays)

Ingredients

  • 100 g plain flour

  • 100 g potato starch

  • 2 hard-boiled egg yolks

  • 130 g butter, softened

  • 60 g icing sugar

  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

  • Seeds from ½ vanilla pod, or 1 sachet of vanilla or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

  • 1 pinch of salt

  • Icing sugar, for coating and decorating

Method

  1. Cream the softened butter with the icing sugar.

  2. Add the hard-boiled egg yolks. You can press them through a fine-mesh sieve, although some may get stuck in the mesh, or blend them together with the butter and sugar until completely smooth.

  3. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Mix well.

  4. Sift together the potato starch and plain flour, then add them to the mixture. Knead briefly, just until you have a smooth dough.

  5. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

  6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 6–7 mm. Don't use too much flour, or the biscuits may become hard.

  7. Cut out the biscuits using a daisy-shaped cutter with a hole in the centre. If you don't have one, you can use a thoroughly cleaned sewing thimble to make the central hole: use its closed end and twist it gently as you lift it away.

  8. Keep the pastry cold while working. The colder it is, the cleaner and sharper the biscuit edges will be.

  9. If you have leftover pastry, don't knead it back together. Stack the scraps on top of one another and roll them out again. This helps prevent the biscuits from becoming tough and rough.

  10. Arrange the biscuits on baking trays lined with baking paper, leaving some space between them. Refrigerate the trays for another 20 minutes.

  11. Bake one tray at a time on the middle shelf of a preheated 180°C static oven. The biscuits should remain very pale, so approximately 10 minutes should be enough.

  12. When you take them out of the oven, they will be extremely fragile. Leave them on the tray for a couple of minutes, then carefully lift them one at a time with a spatula.

  13. While they are still warm, gently roll them in icing sugar for an even, silky coating, just like the shop-bought ones. Alternatively, let them cool completely and simply dust them with icing sugar.

Notes

  • Keep the dough cold: this is essential for neat edges and well-defined shapes.

  • Handle the scraps gently: stacking them rather than kneading them back together helps keep the biscuits delicate.

  • Don't let them brown: canestrelli should stay very pale.

  • Storage: keep them in a biscuit tin for approximately one week.

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