Canestrelli are delicate Italian butter cookies made with hard boiled egg yolks. The yolks give these cookies an especially tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture, while lemon zest and vanilla add a subtle, fresh flavor. They're light and crisp around the edges, with a wonderfully delicate crumb.
Canestrelli are delicate Italian butter cookies traditionally associated with the northern regions of Piedmont and Liguria. They're typically shaped like flowers with a hole in the center, and flavored with vanilla and lemon zest. The finished cookies have a wonderfully light, tender and crumbly texture.
Canestrelli are made with a unique ingredient: hard boiled egg yolks. Once cooked, the yolks are pushed through a fine sieve into the dry ingredients, where they help limit gluten development. Less gluten means a more tender, delicate cookie rather than a chewy one. This old fashioned technique is also used in other tender baked goods.
If you like the delicate, crumbly texture of Canestrelli, you might also enjoy my Argentine alfajores, another tender sandwich cookie made with a simple shortbread-like dough.
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Ingredients
See recipe card for detailed list of ingredients and quantities.
Hard boiled egg yolks - For richness and fat, and moisture to bring the dough together. Perhaps most importantly, the cooked egg yolks inhibit the formation of gluten that occurs when flour is mixed with wet ingredients.
All purpose flour - Flour binds the dough together. I highly recommend you use a digital scale to weigh your flour (and other ingredients.)
When I tested this recipe, just 15 grams (2 Tablespoons) too much flour made the cookies dense and floury instead of light and buttery.
Cornstarch - A generous amount of cornstarch replaces flour, which helps reduce gluten development and adds a light and tender texture.
Powdered sugar - Powdered sugar is much finer than granulated sugar and dissolves into the butter more easily. It creates a more tender, melt-in-your-mouth consistency in the cookies.
Lemon zest - Finely grated lemon zest adds bright citrus flavor.
Unsalted butter - Make sure your butter is in small cubes and is well chilled. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the total amount of salt in the recipe.
Instructions
These photos provide visual cues. Detailed instructions are included in the recipe card.
To the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, lemon zest and salt.
Pulse briefly until dry ingredients are combined and zest is finely chopped.
Add butter and vanilla.
Pulse a few times until dough resembles coarse sand.
Using a spoon, push the egg yolks through a fine mesh sieve into the dough.
Once finished, be sure to scrape the bottom of the sieve to loosen any yolk that remains stuck.
Pulse just until ingredients come together and begin to form clumps of dough.
Gather dough into a ball and turn out onto a rectangle of parchment paper. Briefly knead in any loose bits of flour.
Roll dough to a thickness of 10 millimeters (just under ½ inch).
Place rolled out, parchment covered dough on baking sheet in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
Cut out cookies using flower shaped cookie cutter. Use one of the recommended tools to cut out the center circle. Chill cookies on baking sheet in freezer for 5 minutes prior to baking.
Hint: When cutting out the flower shapes, press the cookie out of the cutter from the base so that you don't leave fingerprints or indentations on the top of the cookie. Flip onto parchment lined baking sheet and gently press flat to remove any curve from the cookie.
Bake up to 20 cookies at a time on parchment lined baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven for 16-17 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius, Gas Mark 3.) Fully cool on baking sheet and dust generously with powdered sugar.
Hint: If you plan to stack the cookies in a container prior to serving (for transport, or if making in advance), don't add the powdered sugar yet. Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar just prior to placing them out on a platter.
Substitutions
Cornstarch - If needed, you can replace the cornstarch with an equal amount of unmodified potato starch.
Make sure it's potato starch, not potato flour. Potato starch is extracted from crushed potatoes, while potato flour is made from the whole potato.
Variations
Lemon zest is a classic flavoring for Canestrelli, but you can also try one of these variations:
Citrus zest - Instead of lemon, add the zest of a whole orange, lime or grapefruit.
Almond - Add ¼ teaspoon almond extract to the dough along with the vanilla extract.
Equipment
Canestrelli cookie cutter - This stainless steel flower cookie cutter set in 5 assorted sizes is the traditional six-petal shape used for Canestrelli. For this recipe, I used the second smallest cookie cutter (2 inches / 5 centimeters).
Extra large round pastry tip - To make the center hole in the flower cookies, I used the smaller end (the tip) of a Wilton 1A Round Decorating Tip. It measures ½ inch (1.25 centimeters) in diameter. See the FAQ section for other suggestions if you don't have this decorating tip.
Baking pans - I bake my cookies on half sheet baking pans measuring 13 x 18 inches.
Microplane - A microplane grater is the perfect tool for finely grating lemon zest.
Storage
Store: Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Freeze: Place cookies in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature prior to serving.
Make ahead: Discs of unbaked cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in an airtight bag in the freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw dough overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature and follow instructions for rolling dough (start at step 5.)
Frequently asked questions
If your flower cookie cutter doesn't have a center hole (mine doesn't), you can use a small round cutter or another kitchen tool to make one. The holes should be about ½ inch (1.25 cm) in diameter. Here is a list of my suggestions:
The small end of a Wilton 1A Extra Large Round decorating tip (what I used, as I already have one. You can see it in the instruction photos.)
The large end of a small metal decorating tip
Extra-small circular stainless steel cookie cutters
A sturdy, extra wide metal straw, such as a boba straw
Yes! I also tested the recipe using a stand mixer. My biggest tip is to mix minimally to avoid developing too much gluten. Less gluten = a more tender cookie.
You can also make this recipe by hand. When adding the butter, use a pastry blender or two knives to cut in the butter until it is extremely fine, like sand. After adding the egg yolk, use your hands to knead the dough until it gathers together and has a smooth consistency.
For the stand mixer and by-hand methods, finely mince the grated lemon zest with a chef's knife. The food processor will chop the zest finely as it processes the dry ingredients.
Love this recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating. ★★★★★ Your feedback, suggestions, and adaptations are very helpful to other bakers!
📖 Recipe
Canestrelli (Italian Egg Yolk Cookies)
INGREDIENTS
- 3 large egg yolks, hard boiled (cooking instructions included)
- 135 grams (1 cup + 2 Tablespoons) all purpose flour
- 96 grams (¾ cup) cornstarch, sifted
- 75 grams (½ cup + 2 Tablespoons) powdered sugar, sifted
- lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, Diamond Crystal
- 156 grams (⅔ cup; 11 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 5 mL vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place 3 large eggs in a medium sized sauce pot. Fill with water to 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) above eggs. Cover pot and bring to a boil. As soon as water boils, turn off burner and remove pot from heat (leave covered.) Set timer for 12 minutes. When timer goes off, drain eggs and place in cold water (or an ice bath) to stop cooking. Once cooled, peel eggs, separate white from yolks, and reserve yolks.
- To the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, lemon zest and salt. Pulse briefly until dry ingredients are combined and zest is finely chopped.135 grams (1 cup + 2 Tablespoons) all purpose flour, 96 grams (¾ cup) cornstarch, 75 grams (½ cup + 2 Tablespoons) powdered sugar, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Add butter and vanilla and pulse a few times until dough resembles coarse sand. Using a spoon, push the egg yolks through a fine mesh sieve into the dough. Once finished, be sure to scrape the bottom of the sieve to loosen any yolk that remains stuck.156 grams (⅔ cup; 11 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, 5 mL vanilla extract, lemon zest, 3 large egg yolks
- Pulse just until ingredients come together and begin to form clumps of dough.
- Gather dough into a ball and turn out onto a rectangle of parchment paper. Briefly knead in any loose bits of flour. Place an additional piece of parchment paper on top, and roll the dough to 10 millimeters (a little less than ½ inch).
- Place rolled out, parchment covered dough on a baking sheet in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350℉ (177℃, Gas mark 4). Place rack in center of oven.
- Remove top sheet of parchment paper. Place back onto dough and flip dough over. Remove the (now) top sheet. Cut out cookies using 2 inch (5 centimeter) flower shaped cookie cutter. Use a wide straw (I used the small end of a Wilton 1A piping tip) to cut out the center circle. It measures ½ inch (1.5 centimeters) in diameter.)
- Place cookies ½ inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (I placed 20 cookies on a sheet in 4 rows of 5. They don't spread much). Roll scraps and cut out additional cookies as needed to make use of all dough. Chill cookies in freezer for 5 minutes (or refrigerator for 30 minutes) prior to baking.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes, until cookies are set and barely turning golden on the foot. Don't touch them when they come out - they're very fragile when warm. They will firm up as they cool. Once fully cool, dust tops with a generous amount of powdered sugar.
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