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Italian cookies Archives - Dinner in Venice

Ally’s Ciambellini with Wine and Olive Oil


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Ally’s delicious Ciambellini (photo by Alice D’Antoni Phillips)

It’s not only that I happen to love this particular cookie recipe (which I often make myself in a slightly different version including red wine and fennel seeds) –  Alice also picked the best possible time to contribute to Dinner In Venice! I’m taking a short family vacation and this guest post means: “YAY! More play time with the kids”. While Allie is not Italian herself, her trademark cuisine, showcased in her addictive blog Ally’s Kitchen,  is simple but sophisticated, a perfect balance of flavors – qualities that many identify with contemporary Italian taste.  Her dishes are eclectic and show many different cultural influences, but this time she is actually taking us on a virtual trip to Central Italy……

ALLY SAYS:

Italian roots run deep in my life—married first time around to a D’Antoni, I was very influenced in my culinary growth in early years by being in the family.  With three sons who could eat you out of house and home, some of their favorite dishes were all Italian inspired—pastas especially!

Ally's 1

Still having a close connection to this part of my life, recently Ben and I traveled to Italy and visited our D’Antoni family there staying in their gorgeous home in Poggio Mirteto where food is the heart of living and breathing.  Amid the stunning olive orchards, wine vineyards and listening to the gentle crowing of roosters in early morning, each day began with deliciousness!  The long table set for family and friends and prepared by the expert hands of Antonella, ‘breaking bread’ was more than food, it was layers of entertainment, hours of laughter and sharing, and all with even more family in a rustic warm setting of food, wine, good stories, and laughter!

ally's bread

One recipe that captured my heart was ‘Ciambellini di Magro’—Italian cookies crispy and subtly sweet with distinct hints of the rich olive oil and wine in them!  I couldn’t get enough.  Antonella, who spoke limited English, and I, who speak even less Italian, had no problems communicating in the kitchen—she shared with me the recipe writing it in Italian and ‘talking’ with her hands and gestures explaining how to execute.  We laughed as we both knew we were in a festive game of ‘charades’ talking recipes, food, and cooking!

ally's ciambellini

Here is Allie/Alice, working her magic into the dough!

I’ve made these cookies three times since returning—sharing them with friends who come sit in my kitchen, I retell the story of Antonella & Ally in the kitchen—and, sharing them on my website and Facebook proved to be one of my most popular recipe posts!

Ally’s Ciambellini with Wine and Olive Oil

Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients

  • 4-5 cups self-rising flour (divided) (I’m also going to try them with all-purpose flour and rice flour.)
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 cups sugar (divided)
  • 1 cup white wine (I used chardonnay.)

Directions

Yep, messy at first, but hang in there, it gets better! Preheat your oven to 350 F.

On a large clean surface (I used a large wooden cutting board.) put about 2 cups of flour and make a center well.

Add the olive oil then 1 ½ cups of sugar and the salt. With your fingers work the sugar into the oil. Then add about a cup of flour and start working in with your fingers.

Continue working in the flour that is surrounding the oil. Add another ½ to ¾ cups of flour.

Then slowly start working in wine, a little at a time. The dough batter will be gooey and messy—not to worry. Keep adding flour until you dough consistency that can be shaped into a ball.

Put about ½ cup sugar (or more) in a pie plate. This is for coating the cookies before putting on the partchment-paper lined cookie sheet. Cut off a bit of the dough ball at a time and begin rolling into snakes then shape into pinwheels, make knots, or make donut holes.

Place in the pie plate of sugar and coat well. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat process until all the dough is used.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven about 17-21 minutes or until the cookies are somewhat golden brown (not much). -

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2013/07/08/allys-ciambellini-with-wine-and-olive-oil/

Hazelnut Cocoa Tea Cookies


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biscottini da te alle nocciole

Biscottini da Te’ al Cacao e Nocciole

Italy’s Langhe region, in the heart of Piedmont, produces some of the finest wines in the world. However, to many foodies, Langhe is first and foremost synonymous with nutty and chocolaty treats.  The local hazelnut, “Tonda Gentile”, is in fact considered the highest-quality hazelnut in the world, and the jewel of the Italian production. Even the famous food writer David Lebovitz writes, “I do not like to speak in superlatives, so when I say that the hazelnuts from Piedmont are really the best I’ve ever tasted—believe it”.

The pure, fresh air of these vine-covered hillsides does seem to work some kind of magic on both the flavor and texture of the nut.  And magic it could well be: the Langhe hills, topped by medieval churches and often wrapped in a mysterious fog, which fades the natural colors into soft purples and muted greens, inspired in the past many superstitions about witches’ gatherings! Of course, after the Piedmontese confectioners came up with Torrone (Italian honey nougat) and then with Gianduja (chocolate with hazelnut paste) , everybody figured out that those mysterious witches they feared must in fact be good fairies.

My personal Langhe fairy was my mother’s friend Matilde. Matilde, an elderly Piedmontese piano teacher with a formidable gift for baking, was solely responsible for turning my sugar-hating self (I did not eat dessert until age 10) into the cookie monster, and all with this easy recipe below.

Hazelnut Cocoa Tea Cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

1 hour, 15 minutes

6-8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 and ¼ cups flour (plus more for dusting)
  • 1 and ¼ cups powdered sugar
  • ½ lb blanched (peeled) hazelnuts
  • 1 cup (or 2 sticks) butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 4 yolks
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • salt

Directions

Grind the hazelnuts in your food processor with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the confectioner’s sugar (taken from the total. The sugar absorbs the nut oil so that you don’t end up with marzipan). Sift the flour with the cocoa, and combine it with the butter – either in a stand mixer or using ice-cold hands (keep a bowl of ice nearby).

Add the ground hazelnuts, the rest of the sugar (but reserve 2 tbsps for decorating), the yolks, and a large pinch of salt, and knead into a ball. Wrap in plastic and place into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes .

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Using a cold, flour-dusted rolling pin, roll the dough on a floured surface (even better: roll between two sheets of parchment or wax paper*). When it’s about 1/3” thick, cut it into discs using a cookie cutter. Arrange the cookies about 1” apart from one another on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

And bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and dust with the remaining confectioner’s sugar. Serve with a hot pot of black tea!

TIPS FOR ROLLING OUT A STICKY DOUGH:

• If the dough is very sticky, dust its surface with flour before placing it between the two sheets of parchment or wax paper.

• Lift the sheets out and put them back on several time, to prevent them from sticking to the dough and creating creases.

• Turn the dough over several times, so that it is rolled out evenly

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2013/01/31/hazelnut-cocoa-tea-cookies/

A FEW MORE IDEAS FOR COOKIES BY SOME OF MY FAVORITE BLOGGERS:
Brutti ma Buoni by AglioOlio&Peperoncino

Nutella Cookies by SundayAtTheGiacomettis

Amazing Sugar Cookies by CouldntBeParve

Margarita Cookies by SmittenKitchen