briciole

reginelle / sesame seed cookies

reginella à la Simona

Sicily smells of sesame seeds. Not the actual island, but the Sicily of my memory. I close my eyes, I whisper "Sicilia" and I smell toasted sesame seeds. The same thing happens if I read about Sicily: I open one of my Montalbano books and my nose smiles.

My first visit to Sicily, the summer before I turned 18, overloaded all of my senses in a joyous way: the beauty of churches and other buildings in Palermo, the sticky smell of the hot July days, the pleasant coolness of the sea, the sound of the dialect (of which I learned a few words), the taste of new foods. Of all the novelties my senses encountered, the smell of sesame seeds (semi di sesamo) is the one with highest emotional content. I had never tasted sesame seeds before, not even set my eyes on them. I only knew the name and that they were small.

First, I ate bread with the surface sprinkled with sesame seeds and I was amazed at the amount of flavor the small seeds packed. So, when I saw reginelle, cookies covered with sesame seeds, I did not need any special encouragement to pick one up (gently, to avoid seed loss) and bring it to my mouth. As each bite crumbled in my mouth, sesame seeds were scattered around. The cookie softened but retained a bit of crunch and the seeds teased my teeth into chasing them. A light swetness supported the pleasure without distracting the taste buds. One reginella was a dose of pure and simple pleasure, the memory of which lasted a long time.

I have vivid memories of other foods I tasted during that vacation, from rich gelato eaten in a soft, sweet bun, to fresh fish, from light mini cannoli to intense cheeses, but it's reginelle that feed my nostalgia. When I visited Palermo with my husband a few years ago, I carefully chose the bakery in which to purchase reginelle: I wanted the very best. A bite, stolen when hardly out of the store, sent me back to that summer of many years before, when I first discovered the pleasure these cookies provide.

brought back from Palermo

Until recently, I had never tried to bake them at home, afraid, I suspect, of taking out of the oven something so different from the original that the disappointment would be crushing. Reading again The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (1994), the first of the novels that have as protagonitst police inspector Salvo Montalbano, brought me back to my first visit to Sicily and back to the yearning for reginelle, so this time I didn't skirt their calling and set about to make them. First, a note on vocabulary. In Sicilian dialect, sesame seeds are called cimino or giuggiulena. Just let this word tingle your ears: giuggiulena. It comes from from Arabic جلجلا (juljulān, "sesame").

I made several batches, trying a slightly different combination of ingredients each time, in search of the elusive bite of recognition. As I expected, none were exactly the same, and some were further from the archetype than others. The recipe I settled on is good: it makes reginelle that are a pleasure to eat and that have already made a couple of converts to their cause.

Ingredients:

• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 50 g whole-wheat pastry flour or 50 g all-purpose flour
  
• 70 g ultrafine sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2 g baking ammonia
  
• 40 g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  
• 20 g cold strutto (rendered pork fat) or 20 g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  
• 1 large egg (possibly from pastured poultry), lightly beaten to mix white and yolk
  
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• flavoring of choice: a pinch (1/16 teaspoon) saffron powder + grated zest of 1/4 Meyer lemon; or vanilla sugar + 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (see Notes)
• plenty of sesame seeds (I used unhulled ones)
  

Notes:

1. The whole-wheat pastry flour is my way of making cookies a bit more nutricious.
2. I had my homemade strutto and pretty much finished it due to all the batches of reginelle I baked. It makes the cookies friabili (crumbly), but it also has a bit of a flavor and that is why I mixed it with butter. You can use all butter.
3. Based upon my reading, baking ammonia is the leavening agent traditionally used in reginelle. I have some I bought in Italy, where it is easy to find it in grocery stores. As you can read on this page, baking ammonia has advantages over baking powder when used in baked goods like cookies.
4. The recipes I read used various flavorings, from saffron powder to lemon zest to vanilla. In my first batch I used a small amount of saffron powder (1/16 teaspoon) I had and liked the result, but then I could not find more in the store and using saffron threads did not give me the same result. I then used a combination vanilla and lemon zest and was not happy, so I removed the lemon zest and used my vanilla sugar plus a bit of vanilla extract.

• If using saffron powder, dissolve it in a tablespoon of warm milk.
• Put flours, sugar (vanilla sugar, if using), salt, and baking ammonia in the food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
• Add butter and strutto, and pulse a few times, until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal.
• Empty food processor's bowl onto your work surface.
• Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it.
• Add the vanilla extract or lemon zest (whichever using) to the well.
• Add 1 tablespoon of milk or the milk and saffron powder mix (if using).
• Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
• Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball. Add a bit more milk, if necessary.
• Shape the dough into a flat ellipse and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill while you get ready for the next phase. 

shaping the dough

Take a kitchen towel, spread it on your working surface and pour some water over it, so about half of it gets wet, but there is no pool of water. Take a round cake pan and pour sesame seeds in it so you have a nice layer. Preheat the oven to 400 F (or 350 F, see below). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Halve the dough and keep one half in the fridge. The following is how I decided to shape the reginelle and to roll them in the sesame seeds. Place dough on your working surface and pushing on its surface with the rolling pin, flatten it slightly (about 1/2 inch / 1.25 cm thick). With the bench scraper, cut strips (3/4 inch / 2 cm wide) and then cut each strip into pieces (1.5 inch / 4 cm long).

prepping the surface

Place a piece of dough on the towel and lightly roll it with the palm of your hand so its surface becomes slightly damp, then deposit it on the sesame seeds. Shake the pan so the dough rolls around and covers itself with seeds. Gently pick up the seeded piece of dough and place it on the lined baking sheet. Leave at least an inch (2.5 cm) of space all around each reginella. When you become comfortable with the process, you can work with a few pieces of dough at a time. And of course, you can come up with your own version of how to do all this.

I have read two schools of thought in terms of baking: one starts at high temperature (400 F) and then drops to lower 10 minutes after the start and one uses the same temperature (350 F) throughout. I think I prefer the result of the first version, while my husband prefers the result of the second: you can be  your own judge. Either way, I follow the advice of leaving the oven door slightly ajar (1/8 inch / 3 mm) to let the ammonia escape but without letting too much heat dissipate.

• If starting at 400 F, 10 minutes after the start, lower temperature to 320 F
• If starting at 350 F, keep the same temperature throughout

Either way, check the reginelle after 20 minutes from the beginning and estimate the amount of time still needed. The reginelle are ready when the surface is golden. Check the bottom as well: it should be brown but not dark brown. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and move the reginelle to a rack to cool. While the first batch is baking, prepare the second batch as above.

Store reginelle in an airtight container and enjoy. You probably won't think about Sicily when you bite on one, but you should still have a pleasant, crunchy experience.

Final note: reginelle shed sesame seeds throughout their life cycle. I have been collecting them and used them for a second time: the second baking did not affect their flavor, in part, I think, because I used unhulled seeds. I will not use them a third time for reginelle, but I have already used them as toasted sesame seeds on salads.

rolling in the sesame seeds

I have not visited Porto Empedocle Vigata, where the novels are set, but years ago, I spent a month working at the Club Med Kamarina and have been to Ragusa, Vittoria and other places in the area, so I have a sense of the landscape Camilleri describes in his Montalbano novels.

It was interesting to read again the first one of the series. We meet Montalbano and see his charming human touch at work. For example, he lies about his identity to the mother of a young man he wants to question to avoid alarming her. He understands immediately that Ingegner Luparello's wife is a smart woman and the two of them develop a mutual esteem. He may be a bit rough, but his first instinct is to try and connect to the person he is dealing with. 

The most memorable part of the novel is probably the improbable friendship that blossoms between Montalbano and Ingrid, a beautiful Swedish woman accidentally married to an absent Sicilian. The story moves forward to reach the solution. We never doubt that Montalbano will figure out what happened. But the process of uncovering the truth includes also making sure that innocent Ingrid is not dragged into the mud, that the Luparello widow's wish is respected, that Saro gets some money to cure his little boy, in sum, that the chaos of the world in general and of that corner of Sicily in particular, for at least a brief time, is organized in a sort of just order that allows Montalbano a few hours of quiet sleep or a long swim in the sea in front of his house in Marinella.

a cookie from the heart

In an interview (in Italian), Camilleri says (my translation of the transcription):

I wrote the first, then the second [The Terra-Cotta Dog], and said: the end. I wrote the second to better define the character, but then what happened happened. 

"What happened" was that The Terra-Cotta Dog was a huge success. Nineteen years after the publication of The Shape of Water, readers around the world still wait impatiently for the next Montalbano to come out. Long live Andrea Camilleri.

This is my contribution to the 18th edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

This is also my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Rachel of The Crispy Cook. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

reginelle

or launch the reginelle audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

cookie, sesame-seeds, Italian recipe

Related articles

semi di sesamo / sesame seeds

croccanti

a family recipe for a special sweet treat

In the days leading up to the Holidays, my aunt Lucia would bake special cookies and apportion them among family members: my uncle, my father, my cousins. My father visited her before Christmas and brought back the package allocated to our family. I never saw my aunt making the content of that eagerly awaited package, but in my mind's eye I can reconstruct the scene: the kitchen, the table, the fireplace, my aunt and my father chatting. What came out at the receiving end were diamond-shaped torzetti and half-domed croccanti (croccante means crisp, crunchy).

I regret that I did not ask my aunt for any of her recipes. I guess in my mind I thought I had time, until one day, time suddenly ran out. For years I had been making meringues (meringhe) enriched with walnuts inspired by my aunt's croccanti, but I knew they were different. A few years ago, I asked one of my cousins whether a record of the recipe existed. A few days later, I received an email with the list of ingredients and a set of instructions that provided a starting point to develop my own version of the beloved croccanti, a variation on a theme of egg whites (albumi) and walnuts (noci) dedicated to my aunt.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for croccanti

Ingredients:

• 2 extra-large egg whites at room temperature
• 1/2 cup super-fine or granulated white sugar (zucchero)
  
• 8.5 oz. (240 g / 2 and 1/2 cups) shelled walnuts
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) all-purpose white flour, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) vanilla extract

My aunt started with walnuts still in their shells, and I often buy whole walnuts, because I enjoy cracking them. Shelled walnuts are readily available and also convenient. However, they should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, as they are prone to become rancid, due to their high fat content (including nutritionally-valuable alpha-linolenic acid, ALA, an omega-3 fatty acid).

In her “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone”, Deborah Madison gives instructions on how to treat walnuts to improve their flavor when they aren't freshly cracked, and make them less irritating for people who are sensitive to their skins. Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the walnuts and let them stand for one minute, then drain them and absorb the excess moisture with a towel. Finally, spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and place them in the oven preheated to 300 F until they have dried out, 15-20 minutes. Remove them from the oven as soon as they are dry.

After you take the walnuts out of the oven, let them cool, then spread them on a cutting board and chop them finely using a knife. At the end you should have a bit more than two cups of fragments.

Place two egg whites (I use pastured eggs) in a mixing bowl and let them rest until they reach room temperature. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the sugar to the egg whites and continue beating until it is well incorporated. Sift flour over the egg whites and fold it in with a spatula, using light, slow movements. Add the chopped walnuts in a few batches and fold them into the batter with the spatula, again using light movements. Add vanilla extract and gently stir in.


Line one large baking sheet or two small ones with parchment paper (in this case, a silicone baking mat is not recommended). Drop the batter on the sheet by spoonfuls (i.e., use a soup spoon to scoop up the batter and let the spatula help you in the dropping phase), leaving 3/4-1 inch between mounds. You should have 24 of them, of 1.5-2 inch diameter.

Bake for about 20 minutes, carefully overseeing the process. Check the cookies after 18 minutes. They are ready when you can pick one up delicately with two fingers without a disappointing structural failure. The bottom should be a light tan color and upon applying a little pressure, the surface should feel delicately crisp. If otherwise, bake for an additional two minutes, then check again. Be careful because it is easy to burn the cookies. Do not touch the cookies when they come out of the oven, but let them cool on the baking sheet. To accomplish this, you may consider closing the kitchen door to prevent the sweet smell to waft out and become an irresistible magnet on other inhabitants of the house.

When you bite into a croccante, you hear the light crackle of the crisp outer layer. Your teeth sink into finely chopped walnuts supported by a framework of egg white and sugar. The latter dissolves and creates a substrate over which the walnut bits dance and overlay their nuttiness on the prevailing sweetness. As you chew, the nuts' crunchiness is slightly offset by a stickiness that encourages slow motion.

This original family recipe, made mostly of white ingredients, is my submission to the White Christmas Challenge on Very Good Recipes. Follow the link to see all the recipes submitted to the event... and also to see that my croccanti were selected for 5th place: Thank you!

White Christmas in Italian is bianco Natale.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

croccanti

Or launch the croccanti audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

White Christmas Challenge, cookie, walnut

granella di fave di cacao

cacao nibs

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

In the beginning there is the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, “a spindly understory tree” which, with very few exceptions, “refuses to bear fruit outside a band of 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south of the Equator.” (Sophie and Michael Coe, The True History of Chocolate)

The fruit of the cacao tree is called a cacao pod (cabosse): It contains almond-shaped seeds, called beans (fave di cacao), surrounded by a juicy pulp. The Coes explain that once the pods are opened, and the beans and their surrounding pulp extracted, there are four principal steps which must be taken to produce the cacao “nibs” (kernels) that are to be ground into chocolate: (1) fermentation, (2) drying, (3) roasting (or toasting) and (4) winnowing. No matter what the level of technology, this sequence has been in force for at least three millennia and still is followed in the modern world.

Soon after the cacao pods are harvested, seeds and pulp are extracted and piled up. Fermentation ensues and lasts several days. “Cacao fermentation is a fermentation of the pulp, not the beans, but it transforms the beans as well… Right out of the pod, the bean is astringent, bitter, and essentially aroma-less… Properly conducted fermentation converts the astringent but bland beans into vessels laden with desirable flavors and flavor precursors.” (Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking).

Once the fermentation is complete, the seeds are dried in the sun, cleaned, bagged, then transported to locations where they will be processed. There, they start their journey to become chocolate by being roasted (to develop their flavor and aroma). Temperature and duration of roasting are the first of the chocolate maker’s secrets and vary based on the bean variety and provenance. The roasted cacao beans are cracked into pieces and then winnowed. The result of the winnowing process is a separation of the cacao nibs from the chaff. The cacao bean husks can be composted, while the nibs proceed to the next step.

The preceding paragraphs are excepted from an article I wrote earlier this year, which goes on to talk about the processing of cacao nibs into chocolate (on this page, you can see a photo I took of "the next step"). In this post, I'll stop here because the protagonists are the cacao nibs themselves.

I remember well the first time I saw a package of cacao nibs by Scharffen Berger on the shelf of a store in Berkeley, some years ago. I wondered what they tasted like and how to use them. Our local grocery store carried cacao nibs in the bulk section, a sign that they have become an item consumed by enough people. I made my most recent purchase of cacao nibs during a visit to the chocolate makers mentioned in the article: Dick Taylor Chocolate.

I no longer wonder how to use them, but maybe you do, so here are some ideas.

Cacao Nibs... are the essence of chocolate (cioccolato). Nibs add crunchiness and subtle chocolate flavor to baked goods and savory dishes. They make a great substitute for roasted nuts or chocolate chips, without added sweetness. [source]

I have added my cacao nibs from my most recent purchase to my homemade yogurt (more on this in a future post) and also to my pasta frolla to make special frollini (cookies). Add some cacao nibs to the dough after the egg and the vanilla extract by distributing them on the surface of the dough-in-progress. You may start by adding 2 tablespoons; then, if you enjoy the result, try increasing to 3 (which is the amount I use).

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for frollini (with and without cacao nibs)

My next suggestion is homemade Bel Paese cheese with cacao nibs. Bel Paese (literally, beautiful country) cheese was created in 1906 by Egidio Galbani and is produced by Galbani, the company he founded. The name came from the title of the 1876 book by Antonio Stoppani dedicated to the geophysical beauties of Italy. Dante and Petrarch had used the expression to refer to Italy. Bel Paese is a semi-soft cow cheese with a mild, sweet, milky flavor. [As an aside, the modern label on the cheese is different from the one it had when I was a child, shown on the right.]

When I made the cheese, following the recipe in Debra Amrein-Boyes' 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes¹, I hit a bump on the road: kind of a long story, which in the end did not impact the ripening of the cheese in the way I feared. The big unknown was how would the cacao nibs interact with the ripening cheese. After six weeks of aging, I cut it and we tasted it: I am pleased by the result. The cacao nibs softened and donated some of their nuttiness to the cheese, while still creating a contrast in texture and flavor.

The big question is: will I be able to reproduce it? Ask me again in a few months. For now, I am enjoying my creation, shown in this photo in the company of a couple of Lavash crackers (a favorite baked good with my husband). I had some for dinner with slices of my pane alla zucca (pumpkin bread).

This is my contribution to edition #314 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week (the last one of the year) by Haalo herself.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

¹ I refer you to the book for the recipe details (some apply to cheese making in general, some to the specific cheese).

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

granella di fave di cacao

or launch the granella di fave di cacao audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

[jump to Comments]

cacao, cookies, cheese

granella di fave di cacao

Il frutto dell'albero del cacao si chiama cabosse e contiene semi a forma di mandorla, chiamati fave di cacao, circondati da una succosa polpa biancastra. Sophie and Michael Coe nel loro The True History of Chocolate, spiegano che una volta che le cabosse sono aperte e fave e polpa estratti, la produzione di granella di fave di cacao (che viene poi macinata per fare il cioccolato) avviene attraverso quattro passaggi: (1) fermentazione, (2) essiccatura, (3) torrefazione e (4) vagliatura. Questo processo viene seguito da almeno tremila anni (certo, con mezzi che sono cambiati nel tempo!).

Dopo il raccolto delle cabosse, polpa e fave vengono estratti e ammucchiati. La fermentatione che segue dura diversi giorni. A fermentare è la polpa, non le fave, ma il processo influenza anche i semi. Appena uscite dalla cabosse, le fave hanno un sapore amaro, astringente e praticamente nessun aroma. La fermentazione converte le fave in contenitori di sapori e precursori di sostanze aromatiche (libera traduzione da Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking).

Al termine della fermentazione, le fave vengono essiccate al sole, pulite, messe in sacchi e trasportate nei luoghi di utilizzo, dove cominciano il viaggio per diventare cioccolato con la tostatura, processo che sviluppa sapore e aroma. Temperatura e durata della tostatura sono il primo dei segreti del cioccolatiere e variano in base alla varietà di cacao e alla sua origine. Dopo la tostatura, le fave vengono frantumate e vagliate per rimuovere il tegumento che le riveste.

I paragrafi prcedenti sono tratti da un articolo che ho scritto qualche mese fa, nel quale poi parlo del processo che trasforma la granella di fave di cacao tostate in cioccolato (su questa pagina, potete vedere una foto dell'inizio di tale processo). In questo post, mi fermo qui, dal momento che la protagonista è la granella.

Mi ricordo bene la prima volta che vidi, alcuni anni fa, una confezione di granella di fave di cacao (prodotta da Scharffen Berger) in un negozio di Berkeley. Mi domandai che sapore avesse e come usarla. Nel negozio dove faccio la spesa più spesso, la granella si trova sfusa, da acquistare a peso, segno che è richiesta da abbastanza persone. Il mio acquisto più recente di granella l'ho fatto presso la fabbrica artigianale di cioccolato descritta nell'articolo di cui sopra: Dick Taylor Chocolate.

A questo punto so come utilizzare la granella di fave di cacao, ma se voi non siete sicuri, eccovi alcune idee.

La granella di fave di cacao... è l'essenza del cioccolato. La granella contribuisce un elemento croccante e dà un sottile sapore di cioccolato a prodotti da forno e piatti salati. È un ottimo sostituto di frutta secca tostata e gocce di cioccolato e non contribuisce zucchero. [origine della citazione]

Ho aggiunto granella di fave di cacao al mio yogurt fatto in casa (maggiori dettagli in proposito in un post futuro) e anche alla mia pasta frolla che uso per fare i frollini. Qui di seguito riporto la ricetta della pasta frolla con l'aggiunta della variante con granella di fave di cacao.

Preparare la pasta frolla con i seguenti ingredienti:

• 85 g burro freddo tagliato a pezzetti
  
• 65-70 g zucchero
  
• 65 g farina integrale per torte
• 70 g farina bianca
• 30 g farina d'orzo integrale (o la stessa quantità di farina di frumento)
• 25 g farina di mandorle
  
• un uovo
• 1/4 cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia
• 2 o 3 cucchiai (30-45 ml) di granella di fave di cacao

Distribuire la granella sulla superficie della pasta frolla "in progress" dopo aver incorporato l'uovo e l'estratto di vaniglia, prima dell'azione di impasto finale. La quantità dipende dal vostro gusto. La prima volta consiglio di aggiungere due cucchiai, poi magari aumentare a tre (che è la quantita che uso io).

Far riposare la pasta frolla in frigorifero per almeno due ore (io di solito la preparo di sera e poi cuocio i biscotti la mattina dopo. Stendere la pasta frolla fino ad uno spessore di 4-5 mm e ricavare i biscotti. Disporli su una lastra da forno foderata con tappetino di silicone o carta da forno in modo che ci siano diversi centimetri di spazio tra un frollino e l'altro. Mettere in frigorifero mentre si scalda il forno a 175-180 C. Cuocere in forno controllando di frequente che i frollini non diventino scuri. Io metto il timer a 15 minuti e poi seguo da vicino il resto della cottura. Togliere dal forno, trasferire i frollini su una griglia e farli riposare prima di assaggiarli. La ricetta produce abbastanza frollini da fare due infornate.

Il mio secondo suggerimento è formaggio Bel Paese fatto in casa con granella di fave di cacao. Il Bel Paese fu creato nel 1906 da Egidio Galbani fondatore dell'azienda omonima. Il nome deriva dal titolo di un libro del 1876 dedicato alle bellezze geofisiche dell'Italia scritto dall'abate Antonio Stoppani. (Dante e Petrarca avevano usato l'espressione in riferimento al paese.) Presumo che tutti abbiate assaggiato il Bel Paese. Però forse non tutti sapete che l'effigie sull'etichetta di una volta è quella di Antonio Stoppani. (Confesso che nemmeno io lo sapevo prima di averlo letto sul sito della Galbani.)

Quando ho fatto il formaggio, seguendo la ricetta nel libro di Debra Amrein-Boyes 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes, ho avuto un problema tecnico: storia lunga da spiegare ma che alla fine non ha avuto un impatto negativo nel processo di maturazione del formaggio. avrebbero interagito la granella di fave di cacao e il formaggio. Dopo sei settimane di maturazione, ho tagliato la forma e l'abbiamo assaggiato: sono soddisfatta del risultato. La granella si è ammorbidita e ha trasferito parte del suo sapore "noccioloso" al formaggio, nello stesso tempo creando un contrasto di consistenza e sapore.

Sarò in grado di riprodurre quello che ho fatto? Potrò rispondere tra qualche mese. Per ora, mi gusto la mia creazione, che nella foto posa con dei cracker Lavash (che piacciono molto a mio marito). Io ho mangiato la mia porzione con un paio di fettine del mio pane alla zucca.

Questo post è il mio contributo all'edizione numero 314 di Weekend Herb Blogging, un evento creato da Kalyn di Kalyn's Kitchen, organizzato ora da Haalo di Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, la cui versione italiana è organizzata da Brii di briggishome, e ospitata questa settimana da Brii stessa.

Questo post contiene il raccolto dell'evento.

un'enciclopedia "dolce"

a "sweet" encyclopedia

Italian biscuits, recipe from "The Cookiepedia" by Stacy Adimando

With a title like The Cookiepedia this book intrigued me all'istante (instantly). Once I had it in my hands, I found a number of things to like about it:

• an appealing graphical layout, which includes nice icons and space allocated for notes after each recipe
  
• a binding that allows the book to open flat: I like it when a cookbook stays open on its own without clumsy arrangements
• variations for each recipe: variations send the message that it is acceptable to play with a recipe and so they stimulate one's creativity
• while it covers traditional cookies like peanut butter, chocolate chip oatmeal raisin, etc., it also contains innovative recipes, like Cornmeal Cookies with Rosemary and savory Salt-and-Pepper Cookies (see below)
• it is a nice book not only for adults but also for younger bakers.

A cheerful cookbook

Most important in the list of things I like about the book is that I have made five recipes from the book and they all turned out very well:

1. Crinkles: a cross between a cookie and a truffle, they are a delight for the chocolate lover (photo on the left page above)
   
2. Italian Biscuits (top photo)
3. Green Tea Cookies (photo below)
4. Dried-Fruit Cookies
5. Salt-and-Pepper Cookies (photo on the right)

In all the cases, I halved the quantities and used some whole-wheat flour instead of white flour. In making salt-and-pepper cookies, I used flax meal and water as egg substitute, something that I had been meaning to try for a while: the substitution was fine.

As I write, I have made the Italian biscuits three times and the dried-fruit cookies twice. When I mentioned homemade cookies brought with us during a recent trip, I was referring to those two kinds. And I served the salt-and-pepper cookies with a soup that will be featured soon.

To see the first 16 pages of the book, go to this page and click on the link View interior spread. I have received permission to share one of the recipes I made: Dried-Fruit Cookies [pdf]. These soft morsels can be made with various types of dried fruit or a mix. I had flame raisins from the farmers market and that is what I used. I varied the recipe a bit by loweing the amount of sugar and increasing the amount of dried fruit (the latter move was unintentional, but it worked).

The language corner. The word cookie is actually difficult to translate into Italian and the Italian word biscotto is difficult to translate into English, though the dictionary tells you that their meaning is the same. As I have explained in this post, the difficulty lies in the evolution of the word biscotto in Italian and its adherence to the original meaning in the name of the baked product sold in the US (also featured in The Cookiepedia).

It doesn't help to clarify the matter the fact that it is difficult to find Italian biscotti in US stores and that their consumption is a totally Italian thing. In one of the recipes I tried, Ms Adimando uses the word biscuit in the British English sense, more similar to the Italian biscotto.

As I said, it's complicated. If I were to translate the book into Italian, I would probably title it something like enciclopedia di biscotti e pasticcini.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

un'enciclopedia "dolce"

or launch the un'enciclopedia "dolce" audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

FTC disclosure: I have requested a review copy of the book mentioned in this post from the publisher and received it free of charge. I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for discussing the book on my blog. The views expressed in the post are my own.

frollino

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of What the Fruitcake?! Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

The recipes Mandy provided for the different elements of the challenge can be found here.

What I made looks different from what you see on the Daring Bakers web site due to our household's dietary needs. Before I move on to describe what I did and why, I'd like to say a few words about icing. The Italian expression that corresponds to the English "the icing on the cake" is la ciliegina sulla torta (literally, the glacé cherry on the cake). To me, this is emblematic of the differences between English and Italian pastry traditions. One day, I will explain my thought in more details: for now, I will concentrate on my frollini.

Printer-friendly version of briciole's recipe for frollini

A frollino is a biscotto di pasta frolla, a cookie made with sweet shortcrust pastry (or sweet tart dough). Frollini are popular in Italy, one of the kind of biscotti that Italian eat for breakfast or a snack, as I explained in this post. I usually make pasta frolla to make a crust for a tart and use the leftover dough to make cookies. This time, I made only cookies, and had fun cutting them in various shapes. The recipe for my variation on the pasta frolla theme is in this recent post.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, prepare a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper (carta da forno). You will have enough cookies to make two baking shifts, so take  a bit more than half the dough and put the rest back into the fridge. Roll the dough to 4 mm thickness (a bit more than 1/8 inch) and cut as desired. Put the baking sheet with the first batch of cookies into the fridge for 10-15 minutes, while you heat the oven to 350 F.

Put the cookies in the oven. I check the cookies after 15 minutes and then carefully monitor them, as they can easily become overbaked. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Repeat with the second batch of cookies. If you have two baking sheets, you can cut and chill the second batch of cookies while the first one is in the oven.

The challenge required us to decorate the cookies with the theme of September, "whatever that means to you." September is when my husband and I celebrate the anniversary of the day we met. So, I started by making heart-shaped cookies (biscotti a forma di cuore). I then made turtle-shaped cookie. As I recounted in a previous post, my husband loves turtles, especially the sea turtles (tartarughe marine) that we are fortunate enough to have seen many times in their natural habitat (swimming, eating, or taking a nap). I also made cat-shaped cookies, since my husband is a cat lover and he taught me to love cats (gatti).

I recognize the great qualities icing has for decorating, but iced cookies are not eaten in our household. I therefore decided to use some white chocolate to add a touch of decoration to some of the cookies. I melted a small amount of white chocolate in a small bowl over a pot of steaming water, making sure the bowl did not touch the water, as explained in the book "Chocolate" by Linda Collister (a gift from a friend).

I didn't want to dip the cookies into the chocolate, and my attempts at creating some sort of design by spreading the melted chocolate did not go well. Still, one can interpret the small dot in the middle of the heart-shaped cookie in the photo as a stylized ciliegina sulla torta. I really like my frollini plain. You can eat them as a snack, or dip them into tea or caffelatte. Grab one or two, sit down, relax and concentrate on every bite: it's a celebration of the present moment.

A special thank you goes to our host for her choice and her efforts. It was a nice challenge. I hope you will take the time to go around and look at the creative output of my talented fellow Daring Bakers.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words and expressions mentioned in the post:

frollino

or launch the frollino audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

biscotti Digestive e formaggio inglese

Digestives and English cheese

A series of events have kept me away from the blogosphere in recent weeks. Things will be hectic for at least another couple of weeks: c'est la vie. However, I managed to complete the assignment pertaining the current edition of Cook the Books.

Reading Nigel Slater's Eating for England was quite pleasant. A number of his vignettes struck a chord with me, since I have many memories related to English foods, and I had fun comparing notes, so to speak, with him. For example, it looks like we share an appreciation for Bourbon biscuits, which I tasted the first time while vacationing in Malta, together with another favorite biscuit, the Morning Coffee.

It is reassuring, in these days of triple choc-chip, caramel-coated super-biscuits, that the plain, singularly dry Rich Tea has survived. I feel the same about the Marie, the Morning Coffee and the Thin Arrowroot... You feel that this plain and simple biscuit is where all biscuits started from... Sometimes a plain, understated biscuit is all the luxury you want. Sometimes, it is all you get.

(In Italy, we call this kind of biscuits biscotti secchi. This is a kind I like and can only enjoy when I visit my country of origin.)

Slater's preference for the dark chocolate Digestive ("probably the best biscuit in the world") and dislike for "tongue-numbingly sweet" milk chocolate HobNobs matches mine. However, during my sojourns in England, I mostly consumed plain McVites Digestives, and those in moderation (an exercise in restraint). So, for old times' sake, I decided to try to make some Digestive-inspired biscuits. I read some recipes, then let my imagination take over and ended up with something different from what I set about making, but good nonetheless. Here are some recipes I looked at:

• Digestive Biscuits from Baking for Britain
• Digestive Biscuits from Recipes Wiki
• King Arthur's English Digestive Biscuits

Here is the list of ingredients I used:

• 3 oz. whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 oz. white whole-wheat flour
• 1.5 oz. fine oatmeal [see below]
• 0.5 oz. toasted wheat germ
• 2 oz. whole-grain barley flour
• 3 tablespoons cold butter
• 1 oz. strutto (lard that I rendered recently)
• 35 g (2.5 tablespoons) fine sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• whole milk or an egg [see below]

In a previous post, I talked about the cracked oats I get as part of my share of a grain CSA. I sifted out the fine particles from a batch and used them as fine oatmeal in this recipe. The whole-grain barley flour also comes from the CSA. I made one batch of biscuits with whole milk and one with an egg: the results were quite different, each good in its own way. I did not measure the milk: I used enough to bind the dry ingredients into a dough. The version with egg was close to pasta frolla (sweet shortcrust pastry). However, the flavor was different, due to the whole-grain quality of all the dry ingredients.

To make the dough, I followed my pasta frolla routine, described here. I rolled the dough to 3-4 mm (1/8-1/6") thickness and used my circle scalloped cookie cutter to obtain the biscuits. I pricked them with a fork and baked them at 350 F on a sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. I checked them after 16 minutes and then every couple of minutes until done. After removing them from the oven, I let them cool on a rack. I forgot to do the pricking before baking some of the biscuits made with egg, so you can distinguish them in the photo below. I cannot say that my biscuits reminded me of the Digestives I ate in England many years ago, but I enjoyed them (and so did my husband) paired with some of my homemade cheese, a Gouda, to be precise. 

My original plan was actually to make Cheshire cheese, a famous formaggio inglese, according to the recipe in 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes by Debra Amrein-Boyes, then use it to make Welsh Rarebit, based on the recipe in the same book. The problem was that I started too late, so the small wheel (forma) of Cheshire is not yet ready to undergo cutting. Another English cheese is currently aging in my house: a Stirred-Curd Cheddar, to which I added an ingredient that for now shall remain undisclosed. I will know in the near future whether my idea was good or not. As I mentioned before, cheese making teaches you to be patient.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Johanna of Food Junkie, Not Junk Food. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement of the current edition.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Hear me pronounce the words on the biscotti digestive e formaggio inglese audio file [mp3] or go to the biscotti digestive e formaggio inglese audio page for more listening options.

gelato al biscotto

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

This challenge was interesting for me for two main reasons. One is that graham wafers (a.k.a. graham crackers) were on my list of to-try recipes. The second is that I had never tried to bake anything gluten-free. The recipes for the Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars are here.

In our household, we cannot eat the Nanaimo Bars as described in the recipe. I interpreted the spirit of the bars to be the idea of layers, one of which includes graham wafers. It was then a short step to think of gelato al biscotto (also called gelato col biscotto), which I loved as a child: gelato enclosed between two wafers (the ice cream flavor being, if I remember correctly, fiordilatte in the original product, called Camillino, which you can see at the end of the comic strip on this page). (Note that what we call biscotti in Italy is not the same thing as what are called biscotti in the US: see this post for details.)

Gelato al biscotto was an example of what we call gelato confezionato, as opposed to gelato di gelateria, the first produced industrially, the second artigianale (artisanal). Much as I liked the artisanal gelato, there was something special about gelato al biscotto: the contrast in flavor and texture between the gelato and the biscotto and also the challenge to eat it so that you didn't drip any ice cream. Another gelato confezionato I liked as a child was the coppa del nonno (grandfather's cup). It is gelato al caffè (coffee ice cream) and I was allowed to have it only rarely, which made it more desirable. Based on this set of memories, I decided to make gelato al biscotto with gelato al caffè. As an aside, I think that ice cream goes well with the theme of the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Instead of sorghum flour, I used teff flour (which is described as being gluten free). I had been meaning to buy some for a while, since injera is on my to-try list. The kind I purchased is of a lovely dark color. 02/02 Update: I realized that I forgot to specify that I used white rice flour, because I could not find sweet rice flour. If later on I find sweet rice flour, I will certainly try it and compare the results.

As a first step into the gluten-free world this was really a perfect recipe. One amazing thing about it is the delicious smell that pervades the kitchen when the wafers are baking. For health reasons, I used half a cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of honey. Also, I had only one tablespoon of vanilla extract left, and used it all. With an eye towards my final goal, I cut some of the wafers with my fluted round cookie cutter. I cut the others in rectangles, using my pastry cutter with fluted wheel. At baking time, I hit a bump on the road. The wafers on the top baking sheet burned before the ones on the bottom sheet were cooked, so I had to discard them. I tasted the wafers that baked properly and liked them a lot.

As third layer for the gelato al biscotto, I used chocolate. I melted some extra-dark chocolate (72%) in a small saucepan over very low heat and then distributed it using a pastry brush. Of the different layering schemes I tried, the best one was to layer some chocolate on the bottom side of the graham wafer, the side that ends up touching the ice cream (see photo below). While the chocolate was setting, I took out of the freezer the container with my homemade gelato al caffè. When the gelato al caffè had softened a bit, I made a layer of it on one chocolate-covered graham wafer and then topped it with another (chocolate side down). I smoothed out the ice cream all around with a knife, then returned the gelato al biscotto to the freezer briefly to firm up the ensemble. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took of the final product was good enough to appear on the blog: I only have one image of the gelato al biscotto being assembled.

My idea worked very well, though the aesthetics (always my weak point) could use some improvement. The combination was a success. Next time, I will try with my homemade gelato alla vaniglia.

The graham wafers were excellent, so I made a second batch. I didn't have enough tapioca flour, so I supplemented it with potato flour (fecola di patate). The dough felt a bit wetter than the time before, but I will need to make another batch with tapioca flour to verify my impression. Again, a lovely smell filled the kitchen while the wafers were baking. This time, I baked one sheet at a time and watched the progress very carefully. I set the timer to 12 minutes, then rotated the baking sheet, then set the timer to 4 minutes, then checked every two minutes. This time, all the wafers baked properly.

A special thank you goes to our host for her choice and her efforts. It was an interesting challenge and a valuable learning experience. It was also a nice little walk down memory lane. I hope you will take the time to go around and look at the gorgeous creations of my talented fellow Daring Bakers.

Hear me pronounce the words on the gelato al biscotto audio file [mp3] or go to the gelato al biscotto audio page for more listening options.

pasticcini da tè per il solstizio d'inverno

tea cookies for the winter solstice

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano]

It's that time of the year when Susan of Food Blogga invites us to Eat Christmas Cookies and how can one turn down such a sweet invitation from such a nice person? Last year I contributed offelle di marmellata to the event. I have baked countless batches of offelle since then, and have also managed to mail some in a package. A few months ago, I altered slightly the original recipe for the pasta frolla (sweet shortcrust pastry) used to make offelle and with the new version I made crostata di prugne e fromage blanc and then subsequent batches of offelle.

A year ago, I learned to make butter at home, an enjoyable activity that gives you, as by-product, true buttermilk. I use the "shake the jar" method, which provides good exercise for your arms and also for your patience. After the cream clots, for a while it seems like nothing happens, but by being persistent with your efforts, you reach the point when solid butter (burro) neatly separates from liquid buttermilk (latticello).

With freshly made butter and buttermilk in the fridge, resting, waiting to be used, the idea started to form in my mind of adding buttermilk and some leavening agent to my pasta frolla variation to make a different type of cookies to accompany a hot cup of tea. In browsing around the web, I stumbled upon a recipe for buttermilk cookies from which I derived the amount of buttermilk and of baking soda to use. From my butter-making session, whose results are portrayed in the photos, I obtained enough buttermilk to bake two batches of cookies, but not enough butter for them, so I supplemented it with store-bought organic unsalted butter.

I also wanted to celebrate the fact that the sun will soon start setting later and therefore I added some grated orange zest to the ingredients. Here's the updated list:

• 1/2 cup regular flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup whole-grain barley flour
• a pinch of salt
• a bit of grated orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup vanilla sugar (or 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 extra-large or large egg
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F and place the rack in the middle. Put the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well mixed. Beat sugar and butter in another bowl. I used my electric beater for this. Add the egg and beat in. Add part of the flour mix and a bit of the buttermilk and mix well. Repeat a couple more times. At this point I switched to my spatula, added the last of the flour mix and the almond extract and folded them in.

Using a tablespoon and a small spatula, drop dollops of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Allow 1.5 to 2 inches of space between cookies, as they flatten during baking. The first time I obtained 27 cookies, the second time 30. I used a half sheet lined with a silicone baking mat and each time I divided the batch into two for baking. Check the cookies after 12 minutes and estimate the remaining baking time. The cookies will be golden around the edges and that is the part you want to check to verify that they are ready. Let the cookies rest briefly then move them onto a rack. Don't they look nice with the red ribbon (nastro rosso)? They are also good, as attested by the head of my quality assurance department (a.k.a. my husband), who's been having them for breakfast with a glass of milk (he is not a tea drinker).

This is my contribution to season 3 of Eat Christmas Cookies, an event mixed and baked by Susan of Food Blogga. She has started gathering a host of delicious recipes from around the world. You can see them all in the running roundup.

The deadline for sending your contribution to Susan is Sunday, December 20.

Hear me pronounce the words on the pasticcini da tè per il solstizio d'inverno audio file [mp3] or go to the pasticcini da tè per il solstizio d'inverno audio page for more listening options.

[jump to Comments]

Per i lettori italiani. L'anno scorso, all'evento Eat Christmas Cookies creato da Susan di Food Blogga ho contribuito offelle di marmellata. Alcuni mesi fa ho creato una variazione della pasta frolla usata per le offelle e ci ho preparato la crostata di prugne e fromage blanc e successive informate di offelle.

Un anno fa, ho imparato a fare il burro in casa, attività divertente che fornisce come sottoprodotto il latticello vero. Per fare il burro utilizzo il metodo del barattolo da shakerare e panna fresca (pastorizzata). La foto mostra il burro nel barattolo e il latticello che ho separato, prima di procedere a lavare il burro.

Mentre burro e latticello riposavano nel frigo in attesa di essere utilizzati, ho pensato di aggiungere del latticello e del lievito alla variazione della pasta frolla di cui sopra per fare dei biscotti da accompagnare ad una bella tazza di tè fumante. Girovagando sul web, mi sono imbattuta in questa ricetta per biscotti al latticello dalla quale ho derivato la quantità di latticello e di bicarbonato di sodio da usare. Nel fare il burro, ho ottenuto abbastanza latticello per fare i biscotti due volte, ma non abbastanza burro, quindi ho utilizzato anche del burro bio comprato.

Volevo anche celebrare il fatto che il sole comincerà presto a tramontare più tardi e per questo ho aggiunto della buccia grattugiata d'arancia agli ingredienti. Questa è la lista:

• 65 g farina integrale per torte
• 70 g farina bianca
• 30 g farina d'orzo integrale
  
• 25 g farina di mandorle
• un pizzico di sale
• un po' di buccia grattugiata d'arancia
• 1/4 cucchiaino di bicarbonato di sodio
• 85 g burro ammorbidito
• 100 g zucchero aromatizzato alla vaniglia (o 100 g di zucchero e mezzo cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia)
  
• un uovo
• 75-80 ml latticello
  
• 1/2 cucchiaino di estratto di mandorla

Riscaldate il forno a 180 C e mettete la griglia al centro del forno. Mettere i primi 7 ingredienti in una ciotola e mischiateli con una frusta. In un'altra ciotola sbattete il burro e lo zucchero. Io uso il frullino elettrico. Aggiungere l'uovo e continuare col frullino. Aggiungete una parte degli ingredienti secchi e un po' di latticello e mescolate bene. Ripetete un paio di volte. A questo punto io passo ad utilizzare una spatola, aggiungo il resto degli ingredienti secchi e l'estratto di mandorla e li incorporo.

Usando un cucchiaio e una piccola spatola, lasciare cadere il composto su una teglia da biscotti coperta di carta da forno. Lasciate uno spazio di 4-5 cm tra i biscotti. La prima volta ho ottenuto 27 biscotti, la seconda 30 e ogni volta ho fatto due infornate. Controllate i biscotti dopo 12 minuti e valutate quanto tempo manca: il bordo dei biscotti si scurisce e questa è la parte che volete tenere d'occhio per verificare che siano pronti. Fate intiepidire brevemente e poi mettete i biscotti su una griglia per farli freddare.

Non sono carini col nastro rosso? Sono anche buonini, come conferma il mio fido manager del reparto di controllo qualità (cioè mio marito) che se li gusta a colazione con un bicchiere di latte (non è un bevitore di tè).

Questo è il mio contributo alla terza edizione di Eat Christmas Cookies, evento creato da Susan di Food Blogga. Su questa pagina potete vedere la collezione di ricette da tutto il mondo.

Il termine per contribuire alla raccolta è il 20 Dicembre.

offelle di marmellata

Offella is an ancient name meaning focaccia dolce (sweet). It comes from the Latin offa, a small focaccia made with farro. The recipe for these cookies was inspired by the one in La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well — this and the other two links below go to an English translation of the book) by Pellegrino Artusi, first published in 1891. In Italy, we refer to this seminal cookbook as L'Artusi.

I have no childhood memories of cookie-baking at our house in preparation for the Holidays. However, that has not prevented me from engaging in cookie-baking in my adulthood. In preparation for that undertaking, I flipped through the good old Artusi, and the offelle di marmellata caught my attention. They are not traditional Christmas cookies, but I decided to co-opt them to become part of my own personal tradition.

I had several jars of my homemade marmellata and was looking for a way to use it besides the one I already know (for example, to top my tartarughe di pasta frolla). I have a circle scalloped cookie cutter and decided it would work, though it is not exactly like the one shown in the book. I also have my burro fatto in casa (homemade butter), which just screamed to be used for cookies.

I recommend you read the interesting introduction Artusi writes to his recipe for offelle di marmellata. In the audio file I pronounce for you the saying mentioned: dar l'offa al Cerbero.

I did not use the recipe for apple filling given by Artusi, but indeed, one of the marmellate I made has apples and grapes, so it is similar. I also used other types of marmellata for the several batches of offelle I baked. I make marmellata with a relatively small quantity of sweetener (as you can read here), so it is more of a fruit spread than a jam. 

I developed a variation of Artusi's recipe A for pasta frolla (sweet shortcrust pastry), which I will give below. I decided to make a smaller batch of pasta frolla than the one in the book, and distributed the offelle immediately to the intended recipients. I even mailed some, but I don't yet know how they fared during their trip. One thing I often do is prepare the pasta frolla in the evening and keep it in the fridge until the next morning, when I bake offelle for breakfast. My husband likes that.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup regular flour (farina)
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 3 oz (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large or extra-large egg
• a bit of grated lemon zest or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 egg yolk diluted with 2 teaspoons water (egg wash)
• marmellata (a thick kind with low sugar content works better)

Put the sugar in the food processor and let it run for a little while, then add the flours (minus one tablespoon of the regular one) and mix briefly. Add the butter and pulse a few times, until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. Empty the food processor's bowl on your kneading surface. Make a well in the center and break the egg in it. With the help of a fork incorporate the egg into the flour mixture. Add optional flavoring of choice (I use vanilla sugar). Knead briefly to obtain a soft dough, shape it into a thick disk, wrap it in plastic and put in the fridge until well chilled.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces and keep the one(s) you are not rolling in the fridge until needed. Roll the dough to a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 inch), using the tablespoon of flour set aside above to keep your surface and the rolling pin non stick. Cut the dough using your cookie cutter and put the excess dough in the fridge to chill it before reworking it. Spoon some fruit spread in the center of a cookie and cover it with another, pressing all around the edge to seal. Place on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Repeat until you use all the dough.

I usually bake two batches, so I can let the excess dough chill before rolling it again. With a pastry brush, paint a bit of the egg wash over each cookie and put the baking sheet in the oven. Check after 16 minutes and gauge the remaining baking time. The offelle are ready when golden. Let them cool for a few minutes on the tray before trying to move them. It is better to bake the second batch on another sheet, so the first batch can rest undisturbed. Forget about storing the offelle: share them and eat them as soon as possible. And since they are not tied to the Holidays, you can bake more offelle afterwards, whenever you feel like. That is definitely what I'll do.

This is my contribution to season 2 of Eat Christmas Cookies, an event mixed and baked by Susan of Food Blogga. She has been gathering a host of delicious recipes from around the world, 228 of them, to be precise. You can see them all in part 1 and part 2 of the roundup.

Hear me pronounce the words on the offelle di marmellata audio file [mp3] or go to the offelle di marmellata audio page for more listening options.

tartarughe di pasta frolla

sweet shortcrust pastry turtles

I recently wrote about making pastiera (here and here). In the first post I hinted at a way of recycling the leftover pasta frolla (or pastafrolla, sweet shortcrust pastry). My aunt Lucia used to make crostata (jam tart) and with the leftover pasta frolla she would make mini versions of the same dessert, i.e., crostatine (literally, small crostate). I (sort of) did the same. For the occasion, I used the sea turtle cookie cutter I had received for my participation to the adopt a creature campaign by Oceana.

The sea turtle (tartaruga marina) is my husband's favorite marine creature (mine is the spotted eagle ray). When we dive, he is always on the lookout for sea turtles. They are indeed, really cool creatures, elegant swimmers, noisy eaters, funny nappers.

After I rolled out the pasta frolla for the pastiera and used some extra dough to make the decorative lattice over the filling, I wrapped the remainder and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, because by then it was a bit too warm to handle. In the meantime, the oven had the pastiera in it. I rolled the pasta frolla and used my sea turtle cookie cutter to obtain the familiar shapes. I then placed them on a cookie tray lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, and finally spooned a bit of fruit spread on the top, making sure not to get too close to the edges, to avoid spillovers. 

By the time I was done shaping the pasta frolla into turtles, the pastiera was close to being done. I had space enough in the oven to add the loaded baking tray. The baking time is 10-12 minutes and since it is easy to burn the crostatine, check after nine minutes and adjust the time accordingly¹. When the crostatine are pale golden, they are ready. Take the baking tray out and let them cool undisturbed, as they harden in the process and if you try to move them too early they may break (they are still edible even though broken).

My aunt would make round crostatine, put some of her home-made jam in the center and then make a tiny version of the decorative lattice by crossing two short, thin strips of dough. I started doing something similar (see left turtle in the photo), but then decided that I liked the turtles better unadorned. Sweet, crunchy sea turtles for my husband, until the next time we can see real ones, in their natural habitat.

¹ When I bake crostatine with crostata I check them after eight minutes, as the oven temperature is higher (375 F) than when I bake pastiera.

Hear me pronounce the words on the tartarughe di pasta frolla audio file [mp3] or go to the tartarughe di pasta frolla audio page for more listening options.