Canestrelli biscuits with hazelnuts 150g

Toasted hazelnut canestrelli are a twist on the most typical dry pastry biscuits of the Genoese tradition, those buttery shortbread biscuits with scalloped edges and a hole in the centre that resemble daisies. Genoese canestrelli are distinguished from all other canestrelli recipes (there are a myriad of versions between Liguria and Piedmont) not only by their shape but also by the large quantity of butter used in the shortcrust pastry, which in some home recipes can equal the weight of the flour.

These canestrelli are pastries with a crumbly texture, which, thanks to the addition of hazelnuts, are even more fragrant than the classic version, with pleasant fragrant notes. They are excellent biscuits both for breakfast and for a snack, to bring to the table with tea or herbal tea, or to accompany yoghurt, puddings, panna cotta or ice cream.

The hazelnut is one of the ingredients in the ancient tradition of Liguria, especially in the hinterland of Genoa and Tigullio, where it has been cultivated at least since the 15th century, when it represented an important resource for the local economy, and where it is used in cooking especially in sweet recipes. 

Hazelnuts together with canestrelli are linked to a very particular story of popular culture in Genoa, that of Caterina Campodonico, who became famous for her funeral monument at Staglieno Cemetery, which she managed to buy with her life savings earned by selling canestrelli and hazelnuts at markets and fairs: her statue depicts her as an elderly woman in the guise of a street vendor holding 'reste' (necklaces) of hazelnuts and 'canestrelli' (which at the time, however, were sweet doughnuts and not biscuits).