Try baking Sicilian cookies for a sweet time
Now that the holiday mode is here (it gets earlier every year), maybe it is time for you to think about your holiday cookies. I start my baking early to ensure that I am not a mad woman by December, and make cookies that are long keepers and can be made ahead and frozen. It helps if you have an extra freezer.
Top 10 Holiday Cookie Tips
Invest in parchment paper. It will save you time and work from having to grease baking sheets, and parchment paper is reusable.
Use good baking sheets; cheap sheets will warp and buckle when heated. Stainless steel is my favorite.
Use the proper measuring cups. Remember that glass measures are for liquids and metal or plastic are for dry ingredients.
Invest in a kitchen scale to ensure exact measurements.
Unless stated otherwise in the recipe, have all ingredients at room temperature for better blending.
For even-looking drop cookies, use a cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop.
For bar cookies, line your baking pan first with a sheet of aluminum foil and allow it to overhang the pan. After baking bars, simply lift the foil out of the pan. No more leaving half the bars stuck to the sides of the pan.
Wrap cookies correctly for long storage or for the freezer. To do this, use Press’n Seal, which really prevents freezer burn and keeps those cookies as fresh as the day they were made.
For decorated cookies, such as sugar cookies, use bleedproof colored pearled sugars and allow cookies to dry thoroughly before wrapping.
Always check the expiration date of leavenings such as baking powder, baking soda and yeast.
And check out the array of cookie recipes at ciaoitalia.com and in my new book, “Ciao Italia: My Lifelong Food Adventures in Italy.”
Rame di Napoli are spicy, chocolate Sicilian cookies.
Even though the name suggests that these cookies are Neapolitan, they are in fact Sicilian because Sicily and Naples were part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, lasting from 1815 until 1860. The capitals were Naples and Palermo. Rame means copper and these cookies were meant to resemble the copper coins that were minted to replace the gold and silver ones when the Kingdom of Sicily was annexed to the Kingdom of Naples.
RAME DI NAPOLI (SICILIAN CHOCOLATE SPICE COOKIES)
1 c. plain tea biscuit cookies, ground into coarse crumbs
1 to 1¼ c. milk, plus more 4 c. unbleached all purpose
flour
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
7 T. butter, melted
1 T. honey
1 T. orange marmalade
⅞ c. unsweetened cocoa
1 t. ground cloves
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 T. vanilla extract
1 t .baking powder
Chocolate glaze:
1 c. dark chocolate
4 T. butter
1½ c. coarsely crushed
pistachio nuts
Put the cookie crumbs in a medium bowl, just barely covering them with milk. Allow them to sit and soak until the crumbs have absorbed the milk, then stir well until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency.
In a separate large bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. Add the milksoaked crumbs to the mixture and combine well. At this point, add more milk to the batter, a little at a time, and using a wooden spoon, stir it until the mixture reaches the consistency of a thick paste, like that of pastry cream. The amount of milk added will depend on the type of cookie crumbs used, but should be approximately 1½ to 2 cups. Look for a somewhat loose and creamy consistency that still holds its shape on a spoon and is not runny or liquid. Let the batter rest for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a
¼ -cup measure or scoop and form the batter into rounds spacing them 1-inch apart on the baking sheets.
Bake for approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until the tops of the cookies appear dry. Remove them from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Begin making the glaze only when the cookies have cooled and are ready to frost.
To make the glaze: melt the chocolate and butter together using a double boil- er on low heat, stirring constantly. Once the chocolate has completely melted and the consistency is a thin liquid, remove it from the heat and pour it into a bowl. Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze, coating the surface evenly, and place them on cooling racks to dry. Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with some of the pistachio nuts while the glaze is still warm and cool completely.
Makes about 28 large cookies.