Ingredients
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons anise seeds
1/3 cup butter, melted
For brushing
2 egg whites, beaten
Directions
Proof yeast in 1 cup warm water and 1/2 teaspoon sugar.
Mix salt, anise seeds and cayenne pepper with flour.
Mix dry ingredients with wet ones and work into a malleable soft dough.
Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).
Shape the dough into a long thin cylinder.
Cut a small piece of dough and using the palms of your hands make a taralli-style log, about 9 inches long and 1/2 inch wide (Dust the dough with flour if it's too soft to handle).
Form a half bow with the taralli log and pinch the ends together.
Brush the tops of the taralli with beaten egg white.
Place the taralli on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.
Bake the taralli in pre-heated 350 degrees F oven until golden brown -- about 35 minutes (The longer the taralli stay in the oven, the drier and crunchier they become).
Notes
The archivist of this website tried out this recipe and found it surprisingly good. Even though this recipe does not sound too traditional as it uses butter over lard or olive oil (Taralli recipes are from the South of Italy, and very few traditional recipes from the South ever use butter), still, the recipe did produce a crunchy peppery taralli. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi. | 
