Sbrisolona

Sbrisolona Take Two... I made David Lebovitz's recipe earlier this week and thought I would try this one to see how they measured up. Both were delicious and very simple to put together. Both call for butter (softened in this recipe), flour, egg yolks, almonds, orange zest and sugar - this one uses granulated only while DL's recipe used a little brown sugar for "a toffee like flavor". The biggest difference is that DL calls for cornmeal while the author here admits she is not a fan of the cornmeal crunch, and subs semolina flour. Also DL used a little of both vanilla and almond extract. This recipe calls for anise and David only makes a suggestion of it in his cooking notes - I used anise in both batches and would highly recommend. I am definitely in the cornmeal crunch camp as well as that extra hint of almond from the extract, so, flavor wise I prefer DL's. However this one was more uniformly crunchy (not as soft in the middle as DL's recipe) perhaps because she uses no brown sugar, which tends to give baked goods a little more chew/moisture. Would I sacrifice the "toffee flavor" for a crisper cookie - yes but I would also include the extracts and cornmeal.