Cuccidati San Giovani, Prov.Reggio
Cuchidatti, Fig filled cookies
1 lb of dried figs
1 lb of raisins
1/2 cup of honey
1 cup of walnuts
Rind of lemon
Rind of orange
1 cup chopped hard chocolate
1/2 cup apple juice
Crush nuts and chocolate then run thru a meat grinder along with all the other ingrediants. Add a 1/2 cup of apple juice to the mixture and stir in well.
Place mixture in a large bowl,add more Apple juice to give mixture a medium moist texture. The Dough; This can be your favorite Pie or cookie dough.Flatten out and cut into strips about 2X4 inches.Put 1 tlbs. filling in each and fold over. Bake as you would any other cookies.when done, frost and decorate.
Pita Piato Petilia-Policastro.Prov. Cotrone
2 cups sweet red wine
1 cup salad oil
1/2 cup shortening
6 eggs
lots of sugar white and brown
8 cups sifted flour
2 boxes(15oz) white raisins
7or 8 cups chopped nuts
lots of cinnamon
Boil first three ingredients for 1/2 min. Set aside to cool. Beat eggs with
approx. 4 tablespoons granulated sugar. Add eggs to cooled wine/oil mixture.
Pour this over flour in large bowl. Mix well. It shoud be the consistency of
a soft dough. Divide the dough into six balls and replace in bowl. Set aside in
refrigerater for an hour or so.
Now the fun begins. Roll each ball of dough a little thicker than you would for a pie crust into a 12"x6" rectangle. Put lots of white and brown sugar over entire area, then sprinkle cinnamon to your liking, sprinke nuts and raisins over all. At this time if you want you can add any candied friut that you like-we use candied cherries-they look pretty and taste good. Now, drizzle with honey and roll up lengthwise as you would a jelly roll. You could shape this as a pinwheel, a wreath, a candycane or simply cut into slices. Bake on greased cookie sheets about 11/2 hr. at 300 degrees. Brush with honey last 20 min. Let cool. My grandmother Maria Cavallo made these every Christmas and I always helped.of course there was no ricipe so we just guess at the amounts.
Scaledde, (Fritters) Cosenza, Prov of Cosenza. These small pastries take their name from their amusing twisted shape, known in Calabrian dialect as "little ladders."
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon anisette
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
Oil for frying
1 cup honey for finishing
Whisk the egg and yolk together and whisk in the sugar, salt, anisette, and
butter. With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour to make a soft dough and
continue stirring until the dough becomes slightly elastic, about 1 minute.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and fold the dough
over on itself 5 or 6 times, to make it more elastic. Flour the dough, wrap it
in plastic, and let it rest at room temperature for about 1 hour.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a thin cylinder about
12 inches long. Cut the cylinders into 3-inch lengths and twist each length
around the oiled handle of a wooden spoon, about 3/8 inch in diameter,
according to the illustration. Push the spirals of dough off the handle onto a
pan to dry for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil to 350 degrees and fry the scaledde. Drain and cool them on paper
towels. Heat the honey and drizzle it over the scaledde.
Makes about 4 dozen small pastries
Note: For advance preparation, fry the scaledde but only add the honey before
serving.
