Tasty Thursday – Carquinyolis

Ingredients

Hello! I have something a little different for you today. A recipe from my friend Didi’s blog Bijzonder Spaans. The blog is all about food, and offers recipes of mostly Spanish dishes, many of which are typical of the region of Catalunya, where Didi grew up.

Didi and I met many years ago in Madrid, when we both worked in fashion editorial. She now sells Spanish products on her two websites which you can see here , and is a major foodie who loves to cook (and is very good at it). From her passion for food and love of photography her food blog Bijzonder Spaans was born. Check it out, for she has some delicious recipes on there.  The blog is in Dutch, but don’t worry, every now and then, I’ll share more of Didi’s recipes with you right here, at the Cute Suite blog.

Didi has allowed me to select a recipe and post it here on the Cute Suite blog, and also use her photographs. I have chosen a simple recipe to start with.  We’re going to do some baking today (don’t worry, it really is a very simple recipe), and make delicious carquinyolis. Carquinyolis are very similar to Italian biscotti, and are made with whole or sliced almonds. Shall we get started?

Carquinyolis

100 grams raw almonds
2 eggs
1 lemon
100 grams sugar
175 grams plain flour
1 small teaspoon yeast
1 / 2 teaspoon cinnamon
few drops of an anise drink (anise liqueur, anisette or Pernod)

Mix the flour with the yeast and form a mound with a dimple in it. Break one of the eggs and let it drop into this dimple. Add to this the sugar, cinnamon and rind of a lemon. Mix together and add the almonds and a few drops of the aniseed drink, until you’ve obtained a compact dough.

With this dough, form a roll, and press to flatten it. You should get a width of about 3 cm and a height of 1.5 cm.  Wrap the roll in plastic foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Remove from the foil and brush with the egg yolk of the remaining egg.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius) and bake the roll on a greased baking sheet for about 20 minutes or until it has browned slightly. Remove from oven and cut into 1 inch thick biscuits as soon as you can. Do not wait until the dough has cooled, for it will be too hard and break if you try to cut it.

Place the cookies on their sides on the baking sheet and return to the still warm oven. Allow to dry and cool in the oven,  so they become crunchy and turn golden.

Carquinyolis with chocolate

Carquinyolis are delicious served with strong coffee, black tea or a rich hot chocolate, and just heavenly if dunked in  wine, such as moscatel (muscat wine), a dessert wine that is widely used in Catalunya.

Store the carquinyolis in an airtight jar to keep them fresh and crispy for a couple of days. Enjoy!

Carquinyolis

All photographs by Didi van Haren.