Italian Wine Biscuits

The first time I ever tried these, I was sitting in a little Osteria not far from St Oliva, when they were served to me as a sneaky after dinner treat accompanied with a small glass of Limoncello. It wasn’t until I took my first bite, that I discovered my ultimate cookie crush….

One after the other in an unconscious and continuous manner these biscuits were disappearing fast… It was like some sort of cross between a McDondals cookie (don’t judge me) and one of those sugar coated Danish butter cookies you find in the blue tins (you’ve all had them at some point in your life, don’t lie). How could I have not heard of such a delightful biscuit sooner, especially one that’s meant to be dunked in wine!!

After the bill was payed and my husband had finished bantering with the chef on a splendid meal, I couldn’t help but express my delight for those wonderful cookies the hostess had given me earlier. Her face lit up from my appreciation and in return she pulled out a piece of paper and pen in less than a second to give me the recipe. “Eccolo!” She said (meaning “here it is” in Italian), as she handed me what looked like only 4 ingredients scribbled down on a piece of paper…

Ingredients

• 300mls red wine

• 300g of oil (I used olive oil but Italian like to use odorless oils like sunflower)

• 300g of white sugar

• Enough “00” plain flour to form a dough

Method

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl. Roll out dough in to long tubes like when you make gnocchi (because everybody knows how to make gnocchi right? lol). Cut the dough into little nuggets then lightly squash into raw granulated sugar on one side only (facing up) and place on a baking tray. Bake in a 180 degree oven for 15 mins or until golden purple. Let them cool before eating as they should be crunchy for dipping into wine!

Note: There are many different ways for making Italian wine cookies with the traditional way being made into little doughnut shapes with optional ingredients such as fennel seeds, star anise and even white wine instead. I chose to stick to this recipe because it was very simple and it came straight from a local’s mouth! Well not literally but you get the idea of the authenticity behind it ;)

Enjoy with a dry glass of red, while planning your next trip to Italy!!

#recipe #italiancookie #Italianwinebiscuits #yum #Italiancooking #countrycooking #localrecipe