Lard Torcetti

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Italian simple vintage twist cookies. Lard makes them flaky, crunchy, and they are just sweet enough! Irresistible!

Italian simple vintage twist cookies. Lard makes them flaky, crunchy, and they are just sweet enough! Irresistible!


 

Italian vintage cookies, these Lard Torcetti are perfect for any occasion; weekday snack, Sunday afternoon coffee, holidays, gift …. Just name it.

They are not of fancy kind. Not at all. They are simple and tasty.
There is a short list of simple, available ingredients that everybody had or got by exchanging the stocks before, during and after Second World War.

 

Let me give you an example: if my grandmother was asked to make a wedding cake for a girl in their village, she got a batch of wheat or lard to compensate her work.
That way, everybody had what was needed to keep the community alive and safe. Also it helped them all to grow together and stay alive until sunny days.

 

There is a story behind these sweet bread sticks and it goes like this : Piedmont baker had some bread dough leftovers, made bread sticks, twisted into a drop shape, rolled in sugar and baked.

The result was a batch of crunchy and soft torcetti cookies. Torcere in Italian means “to twist” so these are “twisted” homemade dry yeast amazingly tasty cookies.

Italian simple vintage twist cookies. Lard makes them flaky, crunchy, and they are just sweet enough! Irresistible!

This version has lard in them instead of butter.

Lard makes breads and yeast cookies flakier, puff pastry alike, crunchy on the outside but soft inside, due to lard’s unique large and stable fat crystals.

Have I told you how my grandmother was hiding lard during the war? My mother tells me she kept it in the wine barrels. It was one of her tricks that helped to feed the whole family and had some extra for tramps. What a girl !

So, influenced by my grandmother,  I don’t keep the lard in barrels ha ha ha,  but I use lard more and more to prepare food.

By lard, I mean no-smell-of-any-kind lard so it makes it really possible to use it both for savoury and sweet dishes.

Lard Torcetti are easily done, tasty, soft, tender and flaky cookies that stay fresh for five days if kept in airtight container.

Italian simple vintage twist cookies. Lard makes them flaky, crunchy, and they are just sweet enough! Irresistible!

We both enjoy them as dessert or snack, and I pack some for my office as well; we have one after breakfast to satisfy our sweet tooth before we start running through the day so one batch never lasts long at our home.

I hope you’ll enjoy these low sugar bites and I believe you’ll keep this recipe for the holidays to come. Pinning is always welcome; needless to say. 😊

Italian simple vintage twist cookies. Lard makes them flaky, crunchy, and they are just sweet enough! Irresistible!

 

 

5 from 6 votes
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Lard Torcetti

Italian simple vintage twist cookies. Lard makes them flaky, crunchy, and they are just sweet enough! Irresistible!

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Lard Torcetti
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
rising 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 32 minutes
Servings 20 cookies

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 9 Tbsp lard
  • 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1/3 cup + 3 Tbsp warm milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • To roll the ropes, you need:
  • 1 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. On clean working surface, combine, using your hands: flour, lard, yeast milk, egg, sugar and vanilla extract.

  2. Once you get smooth dough, place it into greased bowl and leave to rest for one hour, at room temperature.

  3. Turn the dough on working surface and knead for 3 minutes. Divide it into 4 portions.

  4. Cut 5 equal parts of every portion so you get 20 little balls.

  5. Cover two sheet pan dishes with baking paper and leave aside.

  6. Preheat the oven to 190 C / 375 F.

  7. Prepare oval shallow dish and fill it with 1 cup of granulated sugar.

  8. Shape one ball into 10 inches long rope and roll it in granulated sugar.

  9. Shape a rope into a loop and, holding both ends of loop, twist together twice.

  10. Place on baking paper.

  11. Repeat steps 8, 9 and 10.

  12. Bake for 12 minutes.

  13. Roll warm cookies into granulated sugar again and place on serving platter.

 

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