Pistachio Caramel Cookies

This traditional Tuscan recipe is naturally vegan, and named "Cavallucci di Siena," or, "little horses" because they were often used as snacks for horsemen in Siena, Italy.

Read my blog post about my time in Siena, Italy :-)

Yield: 1 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C vegan honey or agave

• 1.5 C sugar

• 1 Tbsp water

• 2 1/4 C “00” flour

• 1 C finely chopped walnuts or pistachios

• 1 Tbsp crushed fennel seeds

• 1/4 C chopped candied orange peel

• 1/3 C pistachio spread

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 310 degrees F.

2. In a small pot on medium heat, melt honey, sugar, and water. Cook until foamy and the sugar can spin a thread, will roughly take 10 minutes. Take off the heat and set the caramel aside.

3. In a stand mixer or large bowl, mix the 00 flour, nuts, fennel seeds, orange peel, pistachio spread, cinnamon, and baking soda. Pour the warm caramel mixture into the bowl and stir on low speed.

4. Batter will likely be sticky, so flour your hands. Each cookie should have approximately 2 Tbsp of dough. Work fast before the caramel in the batter cools down and hardens!

5. Bake cookies for 20-23 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are golden. Enjoy!

*Tip: These cookies are best when fresh out of the oven. Since they have caramel, they get crunchy when they are fully cooled. I typically microwave them for 20 seconds, or dip in my coffee to soften them before eating.