Anicini, the recipe for typical Sardinian aniseed biscuits

Anicini are aniseed biscuits typical of Sardinia. Excellent for soaking (even in vin santo), they are very simple to prepare.

Inserted by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies among the Traditional Agri-Food Products , anicini are typical Sardinian biscuits with an intense aniseed flavour. In reality, the paternity of this recipe is disputed between several regions, but it was this magnificent island that won it (at least according to the ministry).

Without wanting to go into details or make preferences, we offer you the original recipe of Sardinian anicini leaving you, at the end of the recipe, the difference with the Sicilian ones. The preparation of these biscuits is very simple, as is the cooking. The choice is yours then whether to accompany them with hot drinks or with a glass of vin santo.

How to prepare the anicini recipe

1. First, break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them with an electric whisk together with the sugar until they are light and frothy.
2. Then add the sifted flour with the baking powder one spoon at a time, the anise liqueur, the seeds and the melted butter. Mix first with a spoon and then by hand. You will have to obtain a homogeneous dough that is rather soft and not very sticky.
3. Divide it into two parts and give it the shape of a loaf directly on a pan coated with oven paper. Bake them at 200°C for 30 minutes then take them out of the oven and let them cool down before cutting them into 1 cm thick slices.
4. Put them back in the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes , just long enough to brown them.

Difference between Sardinian and Sicilian anicini

The main difference with Sicilian anicini lies in the use of oil instead of butter. Furthermore, Sicilian anicini are often also perfumed with lemon zest. For the rest, the preparation is very similar, as is the taste. Furthermore, since it is a very common recipe in various parts of Italy, the proportion between the ingredients also often tends to vary.

It is also impossible not to notice the similarity with cantucci , the typical Tuscan biscuits enriched with almonds.

storage

The anicini are kept in a tin box for a long time , fragrant as if freshly made.