After I had already baked Domenica Marchetti’s tozzetti twice, I asked Livia: Do you want to bake some cookies with me? We’re making those pink ones you like.
“Yes!” she replied immediately, leaving her dolls, pencils, books, and whatever else she had been doing scattered across her bedroom carpet. She climbed onto a chair and stared at me with a resolute look, declaring, I know what we need: flour, eggs, sugar and raisins. Oh, can I eat a raisin?
Later, as we were storing our pinkish tozzetti—glazed with shimmering sugar and studded with raisins and almonds—in a jar, Livia said: Mum, why don’t we bake more cookies? Can I have one now?
So I promised her we would definitely bake more cookies from Domenica’s book, and that she would get to choose which one simply by leafing through it.
I found this simple idea cosy and comforting, a way of creating memories, of spending time together in a thin cloud of flour, splashes of egg, and the aroma of spices. Knowing Livia and her love for chocolate, she will surely choose baci di Alassio, chocolate-hazelnut kisses from Liguria, amaretti abruzzesi, rustic chocolate-almond cookies, and brutti ma buoni, classic cookies from Piedmont with contrasting textures: crispy meringue, crunchy toasted nuts, and a soft centre.
But there are also recipes I want to make on my own, carving out a couple of hours from our usually busy schedule to learn something new, or simply to relax, fill the kitchen with the toasty aroma of cookies, and stock a jar to leave on the counter for sudden cravings. I want to make her Southern mostaccioli—almond and grape must cookies—which have been on my list for ages, and krumiri, crunchy butter cookies from Casale Monferrato that we often buy from supermarket, so it’s time to make my own.
Baking cookies is not something you have to do.
It’s not like cooking, when you cook to feed your family or to host a gathering of friends. It’s not even like baking a cake, which in my family is usually for the weekly breakfast or to celebrate a special occasion. Baking cookies is creating something you will enjoy over several days, a prolonged and postponed pleasure, something fun, even frivolous at times. Definitely a pleasure, not a chore.
And yet, for exactly this reason, I feel I need it now more than ever, when everything seems to have a purpose, a goal, filtered through this constant drive for productivity: cook these recipes for our weekly meals, make these for a cooking class, test these for a future newsletter.
Some things we bake are just for the joy of it. Cookies on a Tuesday afternoon, with no reason other than wanting something sweet.
I need more lighthearted cookies in my life, and I am sure I will find plenty of inspiration in Domenica’s cookbook.
I keep going back to it at night, flipping through pages, dreaming about what I’m going to bake next.
Because, honestly, Domenica’s cookbook, Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories by Region, is a treasure trove of fantastic, authentic recipes from all over Italy, recipes I can’t wait to bake and experiment with, as a very peculiar way of having a delicious tour through the Italian regions, discovering habits, traditions, and stories.
Domenica’s journalism background shines through in the many stories she collected, in an approach that brought her to visit smallish towns and family run bakeries, in a comprehensive list of cookies from all over Italy, each rooted in a tradition, a local ingredient, or the quirky invention of a baker.
After three weeks, today I’m finally sharing the live cook along we had with Domenica to celebrate the launch of our cookbooks, which shared publication day. You can find the recipe for my roasted-pepper pasta salad in her newsletter, and her recipe for alchermes tozzetti below.
[Our latest cookbook, Vegetables the Italian Way, came out 20 days ago, and your feedback has been generous, enthusiastic, and genuine. If you have time and feel like doing it, we’d really appreciate it if you could leave a review on Amazon, even if you bought your book from an independent bookshop—good choice!]
If you, like me, need a little more lightness in your days, here are a few cookies to start with.
I realise I bake plenty of cookies at Christmas—all the Sienese treats like ricciarelli and cavallucci—then they almost disappear for months, apart from the occasional nut biscotti I make during cooking classes. This has to change!
For now, a little inspiration from what you can already find in the newsletter archive, then you’ll find Domenica’s recipe for tozzetti.
Biscotti di Farina Gialla con Fiori di Sambuco. Polenta Cookies with Dried Elderflowers. I have a soft spot for Pellegrino Artusi’s paste di farina gialla, polenta cookies. In his recipe, they are made entirely with polenta and have a bright yellow hue and buttery flavour that pairs perfectly with a cup of tea. I usually add a touch of all-purpose flour to give them a melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Occhi di bue. Occhi di bue, literally ox eyes, are the largest shortcrust cookies, a reassuring constant in any pastry shop, café, or bakery counter in Italy. They are perfect in their generous round shape, winking from the counter with their heart of jam or chocolate.
Chestnut flour and chocolate biscotti. Turn the traditional Tuscan almond biscotti into a Fall treat. Substitute part of the all-purpose flour with chestnut flour, add the zest of an orange, and a generous amount of dark chocolate chips.
Coffee ricciarelli. Instead of using instant coffee, we opted for coffee beans ground into a fine powder, much like cornstarch, the same grind used for Turkish coffee. But try them with other seasonal versions: lemon zest and elderflowers to welcome the blooming season, or freeze-dried raspberries, sprinkled in for a bit of color and zing.
What about you? Do you bake cookies outside of Christmas?
Domenica’s TOZZETTI ALL’ ALCHERMES
“Stubby” Cookies with Alchermes Liqueur
from Italian Cookies, by Domenica Marchetti
Bevagna is a medieval town not far from Assisi. It is small and strikingly beautiful, with a twelfth-century church, good restaurants, and a not-to-miss bakery called La Bottega del Forno, which has been operating since 1967. It was recommended to me by my friend Elizabeth Minchilli, who leads tours in the area and often buys packets of the bakery’s cookies for her guests. Owner and baker Dorita Polticchia, daughter of the bakery’s founder, turns out more than a dozen kinds of traditional Umbrian cookies, waking every morning at 4:30 a.m. and baking straight through till noon. Her assortment of rustic sweets, some round, some oblong, others sandwiched with jam and nuts, are enticingly displayed in woven reed baskets in the bakery’s shop and café.
Among Dorita’s creations are these pretty pink tozzetti, which roughly translates to “stubby ones.” Think of these cookies as the Umbrian version of Tuscany’s famous cantucci, the twice-baked crunchy, nut-studded slices that are meant to be dunked in wine or coffee (see page 98). The pink color in this particular version of tozzetti comes from the addition of Alchermes, a scarlet-hued liqueur infused with cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. The liqueur’s origins are Florentine, and it is popular in both Tuscan and Umbrian baking. After tasting these at Dorita’s shop, I came home armed with a bottle of Alchermes, ready to work on my own version. The liqueur is not easy to find, so feel free to substitute a little red wine or another sweet liqueur, such as amaretto, and, if you like, a few drops of red food coloring.
MAKES 48 SMALL COOKIES
1/2 cup (70 g) golden raisins
1/2 cup (120 ml) warm water
2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (75 g) whole raw almonds
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
4 tablespoons Alchermes liqueur, or red wine plus a few drops of red food coloring
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350° F (180° C). Line an 11 x 17-inch (28 x 43-cm) rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Place the golden raisins in a small bowl and cover them with the water. Let them steep while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to combine the ingredients. Pour in the almonds and mix briefly to incorporate them.
In a separate small bowl, lightly beat the whole egg and add it to the flour mixture, along with the Alchermes and vanilla extract. Mix on low until the dough starts to come together. Drain the raisins and mix on low. If the dough is dry and crumbly, dribble in about 1 tablespoon of the extra egg white, reserving a little for brushing on top after the dough is shaped. The consistency of the dough should be sticky, and it should come together as a soft ball.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and sprinkle a little flour on top. Flour your hands lightly and pat the dough into an oval or rectangle. Divide it into four equal pieces. Roll and pat each piece out into a long, skinny log about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches (3 to 4 cm) in diameter and 12 inches (30 cm) long. Position the logs lengthwise on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches of space between them. Press down gently on the logs to flatten them out a bit.
Beat the remaining egg white lightly and brush it over the tops of the logs. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of sugar along the tops of each log and slide the baking sheet into the oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until barely browned and just set; the logs should be springy to the touch and there should be cracks on the surface. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack. Let the logs cool for 10 minutes; then gently pry them off the parchment and set them on the wire rack for 20 minutes.
Lower the oven temperature to 300° F (150° C). Place the cooled logs, one at a time, on a cutting board. Using a santoku knife or a serrated bread knife, cut them on the diagonal into 1-inch- (2 1/2-cm-) thick slices. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are no longer moist in the middle. They might feel a bit soft, but they will become hard and crunchy as they cool. Transfer the baking sheet to the wire rack and let the tozzetti cool completely. The tozzetti will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.
Baker’s Note: If you prefer a more tender cookie, omit the second bake. Let the logs cool, then slice them on the diagonal into 1-inch- (2 1/2-cm-) thick slices. They will keep for about 5 days in an airtight container.
If you bought a bottle of alchermes to make tozzetti, here’s what else you can make with it:
Zuppa inglese. If you make zuppa inglese in a transparent bowl, something I really love to do, you will see a colorful stack of layers: yellow vanilla custard; a darker chocolate custard; pinkish savoiardi (ladyfingers) dunked in alchermes.
Zuccotto. A sponge cake dome, brushed with alchermes, and filled with creamy ricotta.
A show-stopping zuccotto with a Sicilian filling. Same zuccotto, but with a biancomangiare (almond milk pudding) filling.
The Italian birthday cake. This has been my birthday cake for decades, and probably also a fixture of birthday parties for all the Italian kids my age. It is a classic sponge cake, sliced into three layers, soaked in alchermes, and filled with vanilla pastry cream and chocolate pastry cream.
