After re-reading the “Viscot” recipe below and having a bit of experience baking bread, it occurred to me that this recipe must make a HUGE batch of treats! This might be the reason Dom's family remembers there always being plenty around! Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to make a smaller batch to see if reducing the amount of the ingredients would still make a decent cookie. According to Dom and my boys, they turned out very well. Here is the recipe for a more reasonably-sized batch (1/6 of the original recipe) of “viscots.” For the record, it still made 6 dozen small cookies.
a.k.a. Taralli Baresi
1 teaspoon dry yeast (½ package)
½ cup warm water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons margarine, melted and cooled
3 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon black pepper, ground
½ teaspoon anise extract
1-2 Tablespoons anise or fennel seeds
Preheat oven to 425o F. Melt margarine and let cool. Put yeast and water in a cup and set aside to bubble. Cream together eggs, sugar, salt and cooled margarine. Add in remaining ingredients and mix, then add yeast mixture and mix again. Place on floured surface and knead well. Set aside 10-20 minutes. Roll into thin logs and form into pretzel shapes. Drop in boiling water. When they rise to the surface, drain on clean towel to cool and dry briefly (a few minutes.) Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
a.k.a. Taralli Baresi
1 teaspoon dry yeast (½ package)
½ cup warm water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons margarine, melted and cooled
3 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon black pepper, ground
½ teaspoon anise extract
1-2 Tablespoons anise or fennel seeds
Preheat oven to 425o F. Melt margarine and let cool. Put yeast and water in a cup and set aside to bubble. Cream together eggs, sugar, salt and cooled margarine. Add in remaining ingredients and mix, then add yeast mixture and mix again. Place on floured surface and knead well. Set aside 10-20 minutes. Roll into thin logs and form into pretzel shapes. Drop in boiling water. When they rise to the surface, drain on clean towel to cool and dry briefly (a few minutes.) Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
Note: Because they are not very sweet, I tried my own variation on half this batch of viscots. After draining the viscots on a paper towel, I dipped them in sanding sugar (which is coarser than regular sugar) and baked them as above. They came out with a light sugar crust and were a bit sweeter to eat. Try it and let me know what you think.