Looking for an old Italian cookie recipe

[Steve in Virginia]

Growing up in a Sicilian family in NJ, a stone's throw from NYC, my
grandmother and aunts use to make a cookie they all called biscottina,
or biscottini. Now these weren't traditional biscotti. They were a
concoction of flour, sugar, egg and vanilla ( all the major food groups
;) ). They cooked up into a 2 x 4 inch oval. Pale gold, like the
color of French vanilla ice cream with a lightly browned bottom. Fresh
out of the oven they were heavenly, soft, slightly chewy. A day later
they hardened a bit and were perfect for dunking in coffee. Two days
later they were rock hard and even better!

When they turned hard, Grandma ( or Zia Rosalia, or Aunt Maria, or Aunt
Angie, or Zia Carmella etc., etc., and the list goes on, and on...)
used to make up a batch of sugar syrup, and almond extract and soak the
cookes until they were soft like very moist cakes (think Baba a Rhum) .
Then she'd sprinkled the tops with a mixture of chopped toasted
almonds and sugar. One of those beauties and a glass of Vin Santo was
all you needed.

Does anyone know what I'm referring to? I'd love to get the recipe,
but all the old Italians are gone, and I don't recall if anyone ever
wrote the recipe down. I just remember that you had to beat the
daylight out of the batter in a stand mixer for something like an
hour!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated...and would probably get
you a batch of these delicious cookies to boot.

Cheers.

[Goomba38]

Steve in Virginia wrote:

> Does anyone know what I'm referring to? I'd love to get the recipe,
> but all the old Italians are gone, and I don't recall if anyone ever
> wrote the recipe down. I just remember that you had to beat the
> daylight out of the batter in a stand mixer for something like an
> hour!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated...and would probably get
> you a batch of these delicious cookies to boot.
>

In my family they were called "cha-melles" or something sounding like
that but spelled who knows how? You know how dialect varies. I never got
a recipe either :(
Much like a harder Stella D'Oro brand Regina or biscotti but with a hard
shiny glaze on the top. My father loved to dunk 'em in coffee or wine.

I can make strufoli easily.. but I'd love to find the recipe for those
"chamelles".

[Steve in Virginia]

I never heard them referred to as "chamelles" but it sounds exactly
like the cookies I was talking about. Yes, the tops were shiny and
sometimes developed a few fine cracks on the surface as the cookies
cooled. The old Italians in my house dunked in coffee and wine all
the time, too. When they got hard, my sister and I would place two or
three in a bowl, pour cold milk, or milk with a little sweetened coffee
over them and eat them for breakfast.

My sister and I have been trying to recreate the recipe. We've got the
taste down (though I think it needs a touch more almond extract), but
the consistancy to still a bit too soft, and the dough make flatter
cookie than the original rounded oval shape. But we're still working
on it.

I'll keep searching for a recipe and post a copy for you when I find
one.

Steve

[Sheldon]

Perhaps here:
http://recipes.epicurean.com/combo_results.jsp?recipe_type=Cookie&cultural_type=Italian

Sheldon

[filiri...@gmail.com]

Check out
http://www.bestcoffeerecipe.com

[Brooklyn1]

On Tue, 27 Jan 2015 17:01:28 -0800 (PST), noo...@gmail.com wrote:

>Growing up my mother made something called a Chamelle, but it wasn't a cookie. it was more like a large twisted bagel. made from a bread dough it was flavored with anise seeds and boiled before baked. I am looking for a Chamelle recipe but it definitely wasn't a cookie.

http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/1100726-Anise-Biscuits-Chamelle-s