Frollino
A frollino is a biscotto di pasta frolla, a cookie made with sweet shortcrust pastry. Frollini are popular in Italy, one of the kind of biscotti that Italian eat for breakfast or a snack. I usually make pasta frolla to make crostata (tart) and use the leftover dough to make cookies, but sometimes I make a batch just to bake frollini.
Ingredients for Simona’s variation on the pasta frolla theme:
- 1/3 cup (superfine) vanilla sugar [65-70 g]
- 1/2 cup regular flour [65 g]
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour [65 g]
- 1/4 cup whole-grain barley flour [28 g]
- 1/4 cup almond meal or almond flour [28 g]1
- 3 oz (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces [85 g]
- 1 large or extra-large egg, lightly beaten in a small bowl
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (if you don’t have vanilla sugar)
For the variation with cacao nibs:
- 2-3 tablespoons cacao nibs
Put the sugar in the food processor and, if it is not superfine, let it run for a little while, then add the flours and mix briefly. Add the butter and pulse a few times, until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal. Empty the food processor’s bowl on your kneading surface. Make a well in the center and pour the egg in it. With the help of a fork incorporate the egg into the flour mixture.
If you didn’t use vanilla sugar, add vanilla extract. If you are making the variation with cacao nibs, add them now by distributing them on the surface of the dough-in-progress.
Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball, shape it into a thick disk, wrap it in plastic, and put in the fridge until well chilled. I usually do this in the evening and let the dough rest in the fridge overnight.
When you are ready to bake the cookies, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. You will have enough cookies to make two baking shifts, so take a bit more than half the dough and put the rest back into the fridge. Roll the dough to 4 mm thickness (1/6 inch) and cut as desired. Put the baking sheet with the first batch of cookies into the fridge for 10-15 minutes, while you heat the oven to 350 F.
Put the cookies in the oven. I check the cookies after 15 minutes and then carefully monitor them, as they can easily become overbaked. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Repeat with the second batch of cookies. If you have two baking sheets, you can cut and chill the second batch of cookies while the first one is in the oven.
1 I have also used coconut flour and the result was very good.