Italian Easter Egg Cookie with Eggs
Cudduraci, also called colluraci, collure or cuddhure, are traditional Italian Easter cookies from Calabria, the famous Southern Italian region which occupies the southern tip of Italy.
These cookies are also popular in other Southern Italian regions where they are found under different names: in Sicily they are called pupi cu l’ova, and in Puglia scarcelle.
They are shortbread cookies formed into various shapes: rabbits, doves, bells, fish, baskets, all of which carry one or more hard-boiled egg in the center.
Cudduraci have a very romantic history: maidens used to give them to their sweethearts as a symbol of their love. The eggs, in fact, represent prosperity, fertility, rebirth and good luck. It’s a popular Italian Easter treat as many families bake these cookies as a symbol of good luck.
Enjoy this traditional Italian Easter egg cookies with a hard-boiled egg in the center.
Italian Easter Egg Cookies with Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 kg 00 flour or all-purpose flour
- 300 g butter or lard
- 350 g sugar
- 5 eggs
- lemon and orange zest
- 2 packets baking powder about 32 g
- a pinch of salt
- 10 hard-boiled eggs
- colored sprinkles
Instructions
- Boil the 10 eggs and let them cool.
- In a large bowl put the flour, sugar, baking powder, and grated zest of one medium lemon.
- Add the lard and 5 uncooked eggs and knead the ingredients with your hands. When it’s well mixed, transfer the dough to a work surface or pastry board and knead again until the mixture becomes homogeneous. The dough shouldn’t be hard, but quite soft and not sticky.
- Take 1/6 of the dough and cover the remaining dough to prevent it drying out.
- Divide the 1/6 into 3 parts and roll them to form sticks, thicker than 1 cm and all the same length.
- At one end, lock the sticks, form a braid, and then lock the other end.
- Transfer it gently onto the oven pan and pull the two ends together to form a circle. Take one boiled egg and place it in the center. Press gently to fix it in place.
- Take a small portion of dough, form a stick, and divide it into two equal pieces. Put the new formed sticks over the egg forming a cross, and press the ends of the sticks down gently so they adhere to the braid.
- Repeat the process with the remaining dough, then brush them all with egg yolk and decorate with colored sprinkles.
- Preheat the oven to 390°F and bake them for about 20-25 minutes. Cool before serving.
Notes
