Krumiri

I first encountered krumiri on one of my first visits to Italy in the early Seventies. I have to confess that I was mainly attracted to the brightly lithographed red tin and wanted to add it to my growing collection. Later on the train back to Zurich I opened the tin and was pleasantly surprised to find a bonus of delicious biscotti. Krumiri are delicately buttery with a strong, sweet corn flavor.

Makes four to five dozen cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour  (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
1 cup yellow cornmeal

Two or three cookie sheets lined with parchment

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Beat the butter with the sugar by hand, with a hand mixer set at medium speed, or in a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Continue beating until the mixture lightens in both texture and color, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then the yolks one at a time, beating smooth after each addition. Stir the flour and cornmeal together to mix and then stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture by hand.
3. On the prepared pans, pipe the Krumiri in horseshoe or stick shapes, using a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tube (Ateco #4).
4. Bake the Krumiri for 15 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on a rack.