SweetloreEncyclopedia of World Sweets (534）
Cavallucci
Cavallucci
Ingredients and Preparation of Cavallucci
Baked Sweets ／ Siena, Tuscany, Italy
Cavallucci are baked sweets popular in Siena, in Italy’s Tuscany region, made by mixing walnuts, candied fruit and spices. Beneath the pale, rustic surface, they are packed with pieces of nuts and peel. The dough is firm and releases the aroma of anise, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Binding the dough with honey or sugar syrup
In one example from a Siena baker, flour, honey, orange peel, walnuts, almonds and spices are used. In another method, water, sugar and honey are warmed and then combined with flour, nuts and candied fruit. When the flour and nuts are bound with warm syrup, the dough becomes firm after baking. The proportions of ingredients and the shaping vary, but with every bite you can enjoy the crunch of the nuts and the aroma of the spices.
The cookbook by the culinary writer Pellegrino Artusi also includes a method for making Sienese cavallucci at home. Sugar and water are boiled until the syrup forms threads, and walnuts, candied orange, anise, spices and flour are mixed in. The sticky dough is dusted with flour and baked over gentle heat so that it does not brown too much.
Artusi himself wrote that it is difficult to fully reproduce the professional bakers’ handling at home.
The “little horses” name and records of gift-giving
The name cavallucci suggests “little horses,” and there are several stories about its origin. One explanation links it to the people who changed horses at waystations for travelers and often ate these sweets; another story says the sweets were once stamped with a small horse mark. Both are explanations that have come to be attached to the name of the sweet, and being baked in the shape of a horse is not a requirement for today’s sweet.
Local sources state that in 1515, sweets called “berriguocoli” were distributed to Siena’s officials as holiday gifts, and present them as connected to today’s cavallucci. However, it is not known whether the sweets under this old name had the same recipe as today’s cavallucci. Besides Siena, Massa Marittima also has a slightly different way of making them.
Glossary
- Pellegrino Artusi
- Author of the Italian cookbook “Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.”
- Anise
- A plant with a sweet aroma. Its seeds are used as a spice.
- Berriguocoli
- The name of a sweet recorded in connection with the gifts of 1515. It is presented as linked to cavallucci.
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