A traditional Christmas cookie recipe from Verona, in Veneto. These cookies are fragrant, buttery and taste great with milk, coffee, hot chocolate or a glass of dessert wine.
Start by sifting the flour and forming a volcano shape on your countertop.
Add the butter, cut into pieces, in the middle of the crater. Work the ingredients together very fast until they are crumbling together (see notes).
Add the sugar, the egg yolks, the vanilla and the salt and continue working together with all the ingredients until they are perfectly combined. Place the dough in the refrigerator and let it rest for 1 hour.
Just before taking out the dough from the refrigerator, preheat the oven at 320°F (160°C).
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a ½ inch thickness and then cut as many forms as you can using Christmas cookie stamps
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the cookies on top and cook them in the oven for 15 minutes until golden (see notes).
Let them cool down on baking rack. Once cold, cover them with icing sugar and serve them.
Notes
Work the dough fast to avoid the butter to melt at contact with you hand. Try to keep your hands cold, wetting them under cold water or passing in your hands some ice cubes.
In order for your cookies to have a nice uniform golden aspect, turn the tray clockwise halfway of the time in the oven.
These cookies will last 3-4 days in an airtight container.
You could do the recipe using a food processor, follow the same steps when adding the ingredients.