These crunchy Addictive Italian Anise Taralli are, in my humble opinion, the ultimate snack food. Traditional Italian baking can sometimes be a little time-consuming, but on the positive side, the recipes are usually really simple and often a lot easier than you think. And it’s almost always better than any commercial product you can buy.
The whole process of making these taralli cookies begins by combining some yeast, water and sugar. While the yeast is doing its thing, combine the rest of the ingredients and place them in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Then it’s just a matter of adding the yeast mixture and letting your stand mixture “knead” the dough for about 10 minutes.
For this particular taralli recipe, I love to use my stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. I keep mine on the lowest setting to prevent over-heating.
Alternatively, you can knead the dough the old-fashioned way, just like I did with my cavatelli recipe. The goal is to obtain a dough that is smooth and elastic.
Once the dough has been kneaded (manually or mechanically), place it in a clean, dry bowl and cover it loosely with plastic wrap.
You can also cover it with a clean tea towel.
Let it rest for at least an hour (I will usually prepare the dough and then “forget” about it for a couple of hours).
During this rest period, the gluten structure relaxes and the “rested” dough will be a lot easier to roll out.
I then place the dough ball on an un-floured wooden board, knead it a few times before separating the dough into quarters.
Then, cut each quarter into 16 pieces with my trusty dough scraper. I use a food scale to make sure that each piece of dough weighs approximately 25 grams.
Now it’s time to start rolling…take each 25-gram piece of dough and roll it into a rope anywhere 8-10 inches long and about ¼ inch in diameter, about the size of a pencil.
Join the two ends together to form an elongated ring and line them up on a wooden board. There is no need to flour your cutting board when you are rolling your taralli.
Feel free to adapt any sized ring shape when making these taralli; there is no right or wrong shape; it’s a matter of personal taste.
Like my fennel recipe, these taralli also need to take a dip in boiling water before they are baked. So once I have shaped about half of the dough into taralli, I bring a large pot of water to a simmer.
Carefully drop 3-4 taralli at a time (without crowding) in the boiling water. As soon as they rise to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a baking rack to air dry.
It only takes a few seconds for the taralli to rise to the top.
Once this step is complete, you are ready to bake your taralli.
I will usually place the taralli directly on the oven grates and bake them at 375 °F for approximately 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 °F for another 10-15 minutes.
The final product should be golden brown and crisp. If you prefer your taralli to have less of a crunch, start checking the texture after 15 minutes (of total baking time) and pull them out when you want.
More Italian anise recipes
Anise’s lovely scent and delicious taste make it perfect for baking tasty cookies. Here are some Italian cookie recipes I love that feature this remarkable spice.
- Anisette Sponge Cookies: Experience the delicious combination of a light, airy texture and the enticing flavor of anise in this copycat Stella D’oro recipe.
- Italian Anise Cookies: Discover the charm of these Italian Anise Cookies with their uniquely spongy interior perfect for dunking in your favorite beverage.
- Anise Biscotti: This nut-free Anise Biscotti recipe is uniquely baked in a loaf pan for a delightful twist! Intrigued? Join me as we explore the simplicity of making this delicious treat.
- Italian Wine Cookies: Are you looking for ways to use leftover wine? This recipe for traditional rustic-looking Ciambelline al Vino with a hint of anise is the perfect solution!
Recipe origin
A colleague of mine recently shared his mom’s recipe for this crunchy taralli recipe.
She is originally from the beautiful region of Calabria in Southern Italy, from the city of Cosenza.
My colleague tells me that his mom, along with her friends, will make these taralli as a fundraiser activity for their local church.
Since these women make thousands of these taralli, they use a sausage attachment to press the dough in long coils. Then it’s just a matter of cutting the dough and forming the rings.
Isn’t that just a genius idea!
As I have previously mentioned, there truly are so many variations of this simple Italian snack food. You can choose to add (or not add) yeast, water, eggs, wine, fennel, anise, rosemary, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes… there is so much room for creativity here.
I should also mention that taralli originate from lots of different regions in Italy, like Bari (taralli Baresi), Puglia (taralli Pugliese), Calabria (taralli Calabrese), Napoli (taralli napoletani), and so on. And, of course, each place has its take on taralli. I find it so interesting when a recipe is embraced and tweaked by so many families in so many places, and so my colleague’s taralli excites me!
Forget the bag of chips! The next time you feel like snacking, make sure you have some of these Italian taralli on hand.
THANKS SO MUCH for following and being part of the She Loves Biscotti community where you will find Simple & Tasty Family-Friendly Recipes with an Italian Twist.
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Ciao for now,
Maria
★★★★★ If you have made this taralli recipe, I would love to hear about it in the comments below and be sure to rate the recipe!
Recipe
Crunchy Addictive Italian Anise Taralli
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast 8 grams
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup water lukewarm
- 1 kg all-purpose flour approximately 7 cups
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon anise seed heaping
- ¾ cup olive oil
- 1 cup white wine
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and water.
- Stir and let stand for 10 minutes (will get foamy).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the rest of the ingredients.
- Add the yeast mixture.
- With dough hook attachment knead for approximately 10 minutes until you have a soft, smooth elastic dough. Alternately, you can knead by hand.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and tea towel and allow dough to rest for at least 1 hour.
- Place the ball of dough on an un-floured wooden board.
- Knead the dough for about 1 minute.
- Separate the dough into quarters (cover the dough you are not using).
- Cut each quarter into 16 pieces. (each piece should weigh about 25 grams-almost 1 oz).
- Roll each 25 gram piece of dough into a rope approximately 8 inches long and ¼ inch in diameter (about the size of a pencil).
- Join the two ends together to form an elongated ring and line them up on a wooden board. (There is no need to flour your cutting board when you are rolling your taralli. Feel free to adapt any sized ring-shape when you are making these taralli; if you want thin crispy taralli, the diameter must be ¼ inch thick). Make sure that you press the ends firmly together.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil, then reduce heat so that the water simmers.
- Plunge the taralli in boiling water; 3-4 at a time. Once they surface to the top, remove with slotted spoon. The boiling process (per batch) should take less than 15 seconds.
- Place on cooling rack to drain.
- Repeat process until all the taralli have been boiled.
- Place boiled taralli directly on oven grates or on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 375° F for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 350° F for another 10-15 minutes until golden brown and crisp. (Set oven rack in the center).
Notes
I prefer to use the more pronounced taste of olive oil in my taralli. Feel free to use a vegetable or canola oil. Please keep in mind that the nutritional information provided below is just a rough estimate and variations can occur depending on the specific ingredients used.
Nutrition
Marianne hartnack
when cooking do you keep bringing the temperature up and down for each batch?
Maria
Good question Marianne. I only boil a few at a time so this is not really an issue. The whole process of boiling is very quick. Thanks so much for your interest.
Rose
Hi,Maria
Just found your recipe and would like to try it. Since i don’t have a stand mixer ,do you think putting the dough in the bread maker would work?
Thanks for the great recipes and stories behind them
Maria
Hi Rose, I’m so sorry Rose but I don’t have a bread machine. I’m not much help but perhaps a reader can help out.
Anna
I was thinking the same thing but because there’s a lot of dough even let’s say you use half of the batter ..it’s still too much force on the bread machine to kneed it. I asked my hubby to kneed it for me!!! Haa. Next time I’ll try it ! This recipe is the best TARALLI ever !!!
Thank you Maria
Maria
Great idea as there really is a lot of dough. Thrilled to hear you are enjoying the taralli, thanks Anna.
Joanne
I live in the US I can’t find the black anise seeds. Any advice?
Maria
Are you able to find the light brown colored one? Otherwise, you can replace it with fennel seeds, a little milder but still good. Caraway seeds are another option… I like them in my soda bread, but I think they would work well in this recipe. Hope that helps Joanne. Thanks for stopping by.
Gordon
Hi Maria. I bought some several months ago and I knew I would be making some. This week I found your recipe and tried it. BTW I was pleased to see the inclusion of white wine in the recipe.
They turned out great! My wonderful wife boiled them for me. Oh they’re so good.
One thought though, we have a good stand mixer and even with a bread hook I nearly cooked the motor. Next time I will do the kneading by hand.
But thanks for the recipe.
Maria
Oh my, I’m glad the motor was okay.
I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed the taralli. Thanks so much for sharing Gordon.
Gary
They have been making these in my Mom’s family (Mastroianni’s) since they can remember and our recipe dates back to the late 1800’s. No wine just flour, fennel, salt, olive oil and water. (a bit more water than oil if you want them to be hard and crisp). They would boil in large vats and had 3 very large (seemed that way to me in the 50’s & 60s) Andes Ovens in the basement. They would make the dough and then use a macaroni machine roll it out into strips (many of my grandmother sisters – great aunts worked at the local macaroni factory in central NY – P&R Macaroni [Procino & Rossi]). A few of the great nieces and nephews still make them today around the holidays and special events but always for Christmas. 6 batches (each batch is 3lbs of flour, 2 Cups of Filippo Berio Olive Oil, 2 Cups of water [a little more for consistency if needed], 3 tablespoons of fennel seeds and 3 tablespoons of salt) can take 8 – 10 hours from start to finish with double wall ovens and several large vats for boiling. We have always shaped them like the shape of the cancer ribbon – where the ends cross each other.
Maria
Thank you so much for sharing Gary. I just love to hear about the family history of recipes. I worked as a food service manager for over 30 years… it sounds to me like that basement was a small production center. I can only imagine the delicious food that was made in your family. I am sure you have so many wonderful memories. Thanks again for sharing Gary.
Buon Natale to you and your loved ones.
kag
Easy recipe and made just as written. DELICIOUS RESULTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maria
Fantastic Kag! Thanks so much for sharing, appreciate it!
Rina
Thank you for the recipe Maria, l also have Italian background, l keep asking my mum for the recipe, but as most Italians do they “cook by occhio”. A bit of this and a bit of that depends what you have in the pantry so this recipe is exactly the way l like them. They came out perfect my first attempt, actually l bring them home from my mums after work when she makes them but by the time l get home there aren’t many left and the rest of the family complains. So now l can make my own batch 😂
Maria
Thanks so much Rina! I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed these anise taralli. They really are so addictive… I can understand why you need to have a secret stash 🙂 Thanks again for taking the time to comment, appreciate it!
Wendy
I think perhaps I am doing something wrong? I had these in Italy last fall and have run out of the stash I brought back with me. Mine have gotten kind of hard and chewy…not the crispy that I wanted. I do live in a very humid environment (Houston). Should I bake longer at a lower temperature? HELP! I haven’t given up quite yet. 🙂 I also noticed that mine take a bit longer than a few seconds to float to the top. Could it be the humidity?
Maria
Thanks for stopping by Wendy. Let’s see if I can help.
You are describing the taralli as hard and not crispy… this is what I would do: First, check to make sure your oven is properly calibrated. Next, I would make a trial run and bake them for a shorter period. Perhaps this simple modification will give you the desired texture.
The amount of flour used can also be a factor… Are you weighing the flour or measuring? If measuring, make sure to fluff and scoop lightly…
Humidity can play a factor, but once you get the “right” dough and the “right”oven temperature you will be a taralli pro! Let me know how it goes!
Gretchen
What kind of white wine do you use? Dry? Sweet? Semi?
Maria
To be honest Gretchen, I use whatever wine I have available to make these taralli… end result is always great. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Debra Moran
For some reason tadals popped into my head earlier. My childhood friend’s mom used to make them at Easter time. I loved them and looked forward to them every year. Hers were anise flavored and made with black pepper. They were spicy hot but oh so good. They were very hard but we didn’t care because they were so delicious! Glad I found this site after googling. I haven’t had them in years.
Maria
I love how certain foods can trigger childhood memories. My family would also refer to them as “tadals”.
One of the wonderful things about taralli is that you can make them as peppery as you want!
I am also glad you found my site Debra ♥ Thanks so much for sharing!