Alternative names Nisciolitt da Cânz | ||
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Similar Nocciolini di Chivasso, Pane sciocco, Michetta, Buccellato, Mustacciuoli | ||
Nocciolini di Canzo ([notʃːoˈlini diˈkantso]) (Lombard: Nisciolitt da Cânz [niʃu'lĭt da'ka:nʦ]) are sweet crumbly small cookies from Canzo, in northern Italy. They are recognized as a PAT of Lombardy by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies.
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Context and preparation
Canzo is – since 18th century – a touristic town, well known in Lombardy for its mountains, lake, fairs, history, hobbies, security, participation, and also for a saint (St. Mir) native of this town. All the surroundings of Canzo have a mainly deciduous vegetation, and hazel is the most common species of tree.
In order to satisfy tourists’ demands, the confectioners of Canzo invented a small pastry who would be able to intuitively recall the Canzese atmosphere. So they crumbled hazelnuts and – by adding sugar – they obtained a sweet hazelnut flour.
Nocciolini ingredients are local nature products: hazelnuts flour and fresh egg white.
The confection of Nocciolini consists in mixing them, shaping the granules and baking them. The granules must have, once baked, a weight of about 2 g.
Appearance
The appearance of this sweet is a «gravel» of little half-spheres (2 cm diameter, 1 cm height). Their colour is beige. The taste is that of sweetened hazelnuts. The presence of hazelnuts is also dominant in the aroma. They are eaten as a snack but, for their small size, they can also be used as cake decoration. Crumbly.