Southern Italian Desserts – A Book Review "Intorchiate"

Just in time for Christmas giving and enjoyment is Southern Italian Desserts by Rosetta Costantino.

With seventy-five classic desserts worthy of sumptuous holiday feasts, to snacks for surprise guests, and cookies for Christmas giving, Ms. Costantino, a native of Calabria, has collected treasured recipes from home bakers and pasticciere of Italy’s Mezzogiorno.  Clear and concise directions will have you making chewy and crispy Dolci di Noci from Basilicata, Puglia’s cinnamon Pezzetti di Cannella and cherry filled Biscotti di Ceglie along with Sicily’s Biscotti Regina.  Enjoy Capri’s chocolate-almond Torta Caprese 

and Sicily’s Cassata along with the island’s iconic Cannoli and Naples’ classic, Sfogliatelle.

This book will awaken childhood memories, satisfy your sweet tooth and keep Italian culinary tradition alive in your home throughout the year.

Intorchiate is local dialect for intertwined, and this simple cookie from Puglia is meant to represent arms held in an embrace. Traditionally made for baptisms and marriages, the cookie symbolizes the union between the baby and God, or between spouses. Today, however, they are found in bakeries all over Puglia and are enjoyed with a cup of coffee or as an everyday snack.

• 3 ¾ cups (500 g) all-purpose flour

• ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, plus more for coating cookies

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

• ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter, softened

• ¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

• ¾ cup (180 ml) white wine

• About ¾  cup (115 grams) blanched almonds, for decorating

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter, oil, and wine and process until the mixture forms a sticky dough that balls up around the blade. (Alternatively, you can mix the dough by hand, but it will require longer kneading to bring the dough together.) Transfer to a flat surface and knead briefly to form a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Divide the dough into thirty-six approximately equal pieces; they will weigh about ¾ ounce each. Roll a piece of dough with the palms of your hands against a flat surface to make a 10-inch rope that is about ½  inch thick. Fold the rope in half, then twist the two ends around one another to form a twist, with the dough strands crossing twice and meeting at the bottom to form three spaces. Press the ends together at the bottom to seal them. Space the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Continue forming the twists until you have filled one sheet with eighteen cookies. (You will make the second half while the first ones bake.)

Put about ¼ cup sugar in a shallow bowl. Take one cookie at a time and press the top side into the sugar. Return the cookie to the baking sheet sugar side up. After coating all of the cookies, press three blanched almonds into each cookie—one in each space—facing the pointed ends of the nuts running down from the top to the bottom of the cookie.

Bake the cookies on the bottom rack for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and transfer it to the top rack until the cookies are light golden all over, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

While the first sheet bakes, form the remaining cookies on the second sheet. Bake the second sheet in the same manner after pulling the first from the oven.

Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Blanched almonds have been briefly boiled, allowing the skins to easily slip off. They are the almond of choice when you want to avoid the color or additional fiber and texture from the skin. Because I use them often, I find it easier and more cost-effective to purchase skin-on almonds in large quantities and blanch them myself. Often the skin-on nuts are fresher as well. This simple technique will free you from having to search out blanched almonds or pay extra for nuts that may not be as fresh.

1 cup (150 g) skin-on almonds

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the nuts, bring the water back to a boil, and boil for 20 seconds longer. Drain the almonds in a strainer and rinse them with cold water. When they are cool enough to handle, grab a nut and pinch from the larger, rounded end to poke out the nut—it will pop right out. Repeat to skin all of the almonds. Discard the skins.  Lay the nuts out on a baking sheet and let them dry completely before toasting, using in recipes, or storing in an airtight container. (Freeze for long-term storage.)

Reprinted with permission from:

Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily by Rosetta Costantino with Jennie Schacht Ten Speed Press, © 2013

Cover Photo Credit: Sara Remington. Available at Amazon.com.

Visit the author’s website at CookingWithRosetta.com