Traditional Italian Easter Biscuits

Francesca
by Francesca
6 Biscuits
1 hr 5 min

These are the biscuits of my childhood and bring so many nice memories to me.

At a time when chocolate was a luxury in Italy, these big biscuits made with simple ingredients and boiled eggs were the most traditional treats for big and small during Easter time. Today they are also popular but not as much as in the past being chocolate eggs the treat everyone looks for. However I love to keep traditions alive and pass them over to my kids and that’s why we even did a cook-along about them.

These biscuits can be made into different shapes like baskets called “panarieddhru” or bells called “campanaru”. I’ve made them into the traditional basket shape as well as in a more 2021 kids friendly shape like a bunny! They are called “cuddhura cu l’ou” because they are pastries decorated with a hard-boiled egg. The recipe for cuddhura cu l'ou always includes an odd number of decorative hard-boiled eggs; you can prepare just one big one or, like I did, have fun creating different shapes.

These lovely biscuits are made into a basket and bunny shape!

The bunny biscuit is ready to go into the oven!

Kids absolutely love these biscuits and loved eating the boiled egg too, even though it’s just decorative!

My kids showed how to make these biscuits during a zoom cooking class.

Traditional Italian Easter Biscuits
Recipe details
  • 6  Biscuits
  • Prep time: 30 Minutes Cook time: 35 Minutes Total time: 1 hr 5 min
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Ingredients
Ingredients for the dough
  • 400gr plain flour/all purpose flour
  • 130gr sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 100gr butter or vegetable spread ( better softened)
  • 30ml almond milk or milk of your choice
  • 10gr baking powder
  • 1 lemon zest
Decoration
  • 6 hard-boiled eggs
  • extra milk for brushing
  • sprinkles
Instructions
For the dough
Start by sifting the flour with the baking powder. Add the sugar and lemon zest, then mix.
Now add the wet ingredients: butter, milk and eggs.
After 5-10 minutes of kneading, you will get a dough which is smooth and elastic.
To make the bunny shape, weight about 120gr of dough, roll it out with a rolling pin. Then take parchment paper previously cut into the shape of a bunny and place it on top of your dough. Cut around the borders of the bunny shape with a knife. Recuperate the trims and with about 20gr of dough we make 2 ropes about 10cm each. Take the boiled egg, placed it laying down on the bunny, then use the 2 ropes to enclose the egg by creating an X shape.
To make the basket, create 3 ropes of about 45gr each and long 25cm. Twist them to make a plait. Close the plait to have a round shape, then place the egg in the middle standing up. Again take extra dough and make 2 ropes always 10gr each and 10cm long which will be used to close the boiled egg.
in both cases once done, brush some milk on top. Then add the sprinkles.
Transfer in a preheated oven and cook for about 35minutes at 170 degrees.
Tips
  • They can last up to 3 days
Francesca
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