Try using sapa in your biscuits, as the Italians and the Greeks do!
ingredients for 20 pieces (total cost about 2 € with organic ingredients)
- 250 g pastry flour
- 40 g superfine sugar
- 90 g mixed EV sunflower and olive oil (or just olive oil if it is of a light taste)
- 50 g sapa / petimezi (concentrated grape syrup) diluted with 40 g of warm water
- 5 g ground star anise (or whole anise)
- 2 g baking powder
- 1,5 g baking ammonia
- 2,5 g salt
- Extra superfine sugar to sprinkle on top
Mostaccioli or mustaccioli is a kind of biscuits prepared in various Italian regions in different ways. Their common ingredient is the cooked must of the grapes, which produces a more or less thick golden syrup that resembles honey or molasses and is super fragrant – in Italia it is called mosto cotto or sapa. In Greece, we also use traditionally this kind of syrup to make biscuits. Here we call it petimezi and the biscuits, moustokouloura.
The biscuits we present you in this article are closer to the Umbrian version of mostaccioli, adapted on my basic lenten oil koulourakia recipe (see HERE).
The Umbrians add whole anise in the dough, after soaking it in warm water. The result are biscuits in which the anise is literally beaten and bursts into the mouth. I like this version very much. But to be honest I prefer a finer, more delicate result. Therefore, I use ground star anise, instead.
We sieve the flour, the baking powder, the baking ammonia and the ground star anise in a bowl. We add the sugar and we stir well. We make a well in the center, we pour in the oil and we work the ingredients, until the oil is well absorbed by the flour. Finally, we add the sapa little by little and we continue working the dough, just until it comes together and becomes homogeneous, soft and pliable. If the dough does not come together, but remains in a crumbly state, we should add a little more water.
To make the biscuits we divide the dough in 4 parts and we form each one into a log. We gently press each log with our palm to make the surface a little more flat and we cut biscuits in oblique shapes. We place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment and we sprinkle on top with sugar.
We bake the biscuits either in a static oven at 170 o C or in a ventilated one at 150 o C for 16 minutes, or until they are lightly colored.
We transfer the biscuits on a wire rack, until they cool completely, then we store them in a aluminum box lined with parchment. Enjoy, dipping them in a cup of coffee or tea. Earl grey is a great pairing!
