You are currently browsing the Folinazzo weblog archives for December, 2004.
Mark, Soprano, & I are off to Michigan to spend the New Year’s holiday weekend and Mark’s birthday (his 30th! It’s January 4th). I’ll take the time now to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. Have fun and be safe wherever your celebrations take you.
During the Christmas season, I take pleasure in spending time with family, celebrating with friends, and giving (and receiving) gifts. But I really enjoy baking – cookies, breads, cakes. Christmas allows me an “excuse” to do so. It seems that during other times of the year I have no time to bake.
My mom and I spent 12 hours a few Saturday’s ago making these Italian favorites: biscotti (anise & almond flavored), pizzelles (vanilla & almond flavored), struffala, and lemon drops. We also baked thumbprints (similar to kolachkis), and simple peanut butter cookies, which were extra tasty with chocolate chips.
Biscotti means “twice cooked.” The dough is baked as a log shape and when finished baking, is sliced into the cookie shapes, and baked again to “toast” the cookie. They are dry cookies and perfect for dunking in coffee.
Pizzelles are round and flat cookies, baked on a pizzelle iron. They look like waffles and taste similar to a waffle cone used for ice cream. Sprinkle on powder sugar for extra tastiness.
Struffala are made from dough and fried in hot oil. Most commonly shaped into balls, I rather enjoy shaping them into bows. My mother prefers dropping them into the oil as long strips. On our recent baking adventure, I attempted a few other shapes (for fun!) and we laughed at my “person” shaped struffala. Once the struffala cool, they are drenched in honey, and powdered sugar. My Nonni (my mother’s mother) made them into balls, topped with honey and candy sprinkles.
Lemon drops are my favorite of the bunch. The lemon-flavored dough is “dropped” onto the baking sheet, and when baked & cooled, dipped into a lemon frosting. Be sure to the let the frosting dry before enjoying the cookie!
Two nights ago I baked a banana cake using my Mimi’s (my father’s mother) recipe. All I have to say is “Yummy!” Tonight I’ll bake banana bread with the leftover bananas that Bob and I never quite got around to eating. While I enjoy the fruit, I must say, they taste much better when baked into a cake or bread.
