The "Ugly" Cookie

  

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And if something tastes good, who are we to call them ugly? Elizabeth Minchilli, who wrote the cookbook, The Italian Table, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her new book and a recipe for Crucchi. That's a delicious Italian cookie that has a particular look to it, and that says Elizabeth, is because you literally form them by squashing the dough with your hands. Note the ingredients list, it's not long. That means it's a very easy cookie to make. Try it out!

 

1 cup of toasted blanched hazelnuts (preferably halved)
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of sugar
Pinch of sea salt
2 large eggs


Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

If your hazelnuts are whole, stick the point of a knife into a nut at the fat, dimpled end, and it should break in half fairly easily. Don’t worry if the halves aren’t perfectly even. If that seems too fussy, then just roughly chop them. Just don’t chop too finely!

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat them with a fork. Add the eggs to the flour mixture and mix with a spoon. The mixture will be very dry and stiff. Use your hands to finish mixing, adding the nuts at the end.

Using your hands, form an irregular, raggedy mound of about a tablespoon of dough, and drop it onto the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 20 minutes. It is hard to tell when they are done, since they are a deep, dark brown, but 20 minutes is usually good.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely. The cookies will be very hard on the outside and a little moist and chewy on the inside. If making them ahead, store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

Credit for the book: © The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends, by Elizabeth Minchilli, Rizzoli, 2019.  All images credited © Elizabeth Minchilli.