Experience Tuscany

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With Ashes Wednesday Carnival is over and Lent starts, the forty-day period that precedes Easter Sunday five weeks from tomorrow. There is a very Florentine biscuit that is prepared only during this period of the year, the Biscotti Quaresimali, or Lenten Biscuits. They are without doubt one of the most typical sweets in Florence during the Easter period.
Delicious chocolate cookies shaped to resemble the capitalized letters of the alphabet are prepared by the best bakeries and also sold in supermarkets only during this time of the year.
If you are looking for traditional flavors of the Florentine cuisine during Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, then you should stop in one of the several good artisanal bakeries of the city and experience the delicious Lenten Biscuits. By the way, children love them not only for the chocolate but because they are great to play with and eat! The best thing to do is try homemade biscuits, but grocery stores in the city carry Lenten biscuits made by small local businesses that keep the quality level high.
But of course if you are not going to be in Tuscany or anywhere near Florence during this time of the year you will need to prepare the biscuits at home, and if you like cooking here is the traditional recipe for the Florentine Lenten Biscuits.

Ingredients:
- 150 grams of white flour
- 2 egg whites
- 180 grams of powder icing sugar
- 30 grams unsweetened cocoa
- Orange peel

Preparation:
In a bowl, mix the sugar, flour and cocoa. Separate the egg whites from the yolk, and in another bowl whip until they have assumed a quite stiff consistency. Then mix the egg whites with the mixture of sugar, cocoa and flour until you get a creamy and not too solid dough. Now add the orange rind that you have previously grated. Be careful not to grate the white part but the orange peel only.
Grab your pastry bag (if you do not have one you will have to get it) and start shaping the dough into alphabet letters straight on the baking pan. Set a baking sheet on the pan first for best results. Heat the oven at 150 Celsius then set in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Your Lenten Biscuits are ready!

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