{"id":4511,"date":"2018-03-28T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=4511"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:45","slug":"anise-twists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/28\/anise-twists\/","title":{"rendered":"Anise Twists (Italian Anise Sweet Bread)"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 27, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t know what to call these little breads any longer.<\/p>\n

Growing up we always called them Biscotti.\u00a0 The Italian word biscotti, which is plural for biscotto, can be translated as cookies or biscuits.\u00a0 However, in the United States, the word biscotti is now completely identified with a particular type of pastry; those slices of sweet bread that are toasted until crisp (or crisp on the outside and soft on the inside depending on style).<\/p>\n

We called those Anise Toasts when I was growing up since they were always flavored with anise in our house.\u00a0 That was how we differentiated these softer anise-flavored sweet breads from the chewier, and toasted, anise-flavored pastries.<\/p>\n

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I found this lard at the supermarket. It is not hydrogenated and has just a few reasonable preservatives unlike the hydrogenated lard sold in those blue boxes<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I believe that the word biscotto is derived from the words that mean twice (bis) cooked (cotto) making it an apt label for those toasted things.\u00a0 Despite that, however, it really is used to refer generically to a cookie.<\/p>\n

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The Italian word torta is translated as cake or pie or tart depending on the context.\u00a0 Sometimes that context can be provided only by more description.\u00a0 For example, the Italian word limon is used for both a lemon and a lime.\u00a0 To refer to a lime, you could say limon verde (green lemon) if it was not otherwise clear from the context that you meant a lime vs. a lemon.\u00a0 (This would be critical, for example, when providing directions for making a Margarita!)\u00a0 I think limon verde could also be used to refer to an unripe lemon but that\u2019s getting a bit esoteric and, honestly, above my meager grasp of Italian.<\/p>\n

But it points out the difficulties with translating seemingly simple concepts, like biscotti!<\/p>\n

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Palm Oil is a solid vegetable shortening that is not hydrogenated<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m posting this recipe now because my mother always made these at Easter, but their appearance was not limited to that one holiday.\u00a0 Sometimes, for Easter, the dough would be baked in a big braided circular loaf with colored eggs tucked into the braids.\u00a0 Honestly, though, that was usually done by a friend of my mother\u2019s, Mille Verbano, rather than by my mother who almost always made small ones as I now do.<\/p>\n

Sometimes this is called Easter Bread but, truly, there are different types of Easter bread all over Italy so that term only works within a very specific socio-cultural context.\u00a0 Although we never called this Easter bread in our house, if a relative did so, I would know immediately what he\/she meant.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not a \u201cdunker\u201d but my mother and her sisters, Aunt Mamie (Mary, really, but as a toddler I said Mamie and that name stuck and became what everyone called her) and Aunt Margie loved to dunk bready things in coffee in the morning.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a dunker, these biscotti are perfect.<\/p>\n

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Coconut oil is a vegetable fat that is solid at cool room temperature<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of you may remember my soapbox post about hydrogenated fats<\/a> as a replacement for the lard often called for in traditional Italian pastries.\u00a0 In deference to those of you who do not want to render your own lard (which I suspect is most of you), I was prepared to test this recipe with several non-hydrogenated vegetable fats, palm oil and refined coconut oil.\u00a0 While shopping for other ingredients in Palm Springs I stumbled upon lard\u2026pure, simple lard\u2026not the hydrogenated lard that now dominates supermarket shelves.\u00a0 I just had to try it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve not seen Farmer John lard in supermarkets in Santa Fe but I am hopeful that this signals a resurgence of the availability of unadulterated and chemically unaltered lard for baking.<\/p>\n

I promise to test out future recipes with the non-hydrogenated vegetable fats, though!<\/p>\n

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If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com<\/a> and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven\u2019t seen Bertha\u2019s Flan<\/a> or Melinda\u2019s Drunken Prunes<\/a>, take a look.\u00a0 They will give you an idea of what I\u2019m looking for.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Anise Twists (Italian Anise Sweet Bread)<\/h2>\n
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Shiny aluminum sheet pans work best. Dark pans will cause the bottoms of the breads to get too dark before they are cooked through. For reference, the pictures below show me making half a batch of Anise Twists, not the full recipe given below.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>2 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>7 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>6<\/span> dozen little breads, approximately<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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