3 cups all purpose flour
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 cup olive oil
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon

Large pot of water for boiling ciaramile

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix the flour, the sugar, baking powder and lemon zest.

Beat egg with olive oil.

Mix dry ingredients with wet ones and work into a firm but malleable dough (If the dough is too firm, add a touch of water).

Shape the dough into a cylinder, and then cut out a small piece of dough.

Shape the dough into a tarallini-style log -- about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.

Either shape the dough into rings or half bows, making them as decorative as possible.

Bring a pot of water to boil.

Place two or three ciaramile in the pot of boiling water at a time and wait for them to rise to the surface -- about 1 minute. Remove and place on a clean cloth (to usurp the water).

Score the tops of the ciaramile, making shallow dents.

Place in a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated 375 F. degrees oven until golden -- about 18 to 28 minutes.

Nowadays any small round-shaped Italian biscuit which is first boiled and then baked is thought of as a taralli or tarallini, but it seems that this was not always so -- well, not at least in Northern and Central Italy. The words, "taralli" and "tarallini," were used in Southern Italy to describe these treats but in the North the words were not commonly used, at least not prior to the 1950s. Actually, even in the South, each little town and village, often had different names for this style of biscuit. Nowadays, in North America, most taralli and tarallini sold are similar to each other, they come in different flavors, but they have a similar look. Years ago there was a lot of variety in the different regions of Italy. It's surprising to find that even in Lazio, not known for its tarallini, had a biscuit that was first boiled and then baked. Whether "ciaramile" was ever thought of as tarallini by those who lived in the region is hard to say. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi.

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