This is one of family’s many Easter traditions and definitely the most delicious one. These large, cake size & jam filled cookies are made for dessert on Easter Day, shaped in different Easter symbols. My mother would prepare dozens of these, arranged in platters and surrounded by taralli and brightly covered chocolate eggs. They were gifts for family and neighbors, but my brother and I always were gifted our own. Often, my mom would make ours in the shape of an Easter basket, and that we are grown, each of the grandchildren gets to choose which shape they would like. I tend to stick to shapes that will bake evenly in the oven, like a bunny or an egg.
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The recipe is the same as our classic taralli, but instead of being rolled into rings, the dough is rolled out flat here. Then, you can use a stencil (or make one yourself!) to cut out an Easter shape of your choosing with a sharp knife. Spread your favorite berry jam, and create the filled cookie. When they’ve cooled, you can decorate them with a simple gileppo icing and add sprinkles. It wouldn’t be Easter without these.
La Scarcella di Pasqua | Easter Cookie
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 kg flour
- 350 g sugar
- 2 packets Paneangeli lievito di dolci (or, 2 tsbp baking powder + 2 tbsp vanilla extra
- 150 ml canola oil
- 1.5 oz (1 shot glass full) of Roman Sambuca
- 5 eggs
- 2 tablespoons whole milk, if needed
- berry jam for filling
- icing sugar, milk & sprinkles for decoration
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Print and cut out a template of your favorite Easter shape.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, mix together flour and lievto or baking powder.
- In a medium bowl, combine oil, eggs, and liquor. If using a stand mixer, add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and let the mixer combine the ingredients together for about 8 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. If the mixture seems dry or crumbly, add whole milk, one tablespoon at a time. When the mixture has formed a ball, turn onto a clean surface and knead by hand for 3-5 minutes, until dough looks smooth. The dough should not stick to the tabletop when rolled.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Dust your work surface and dough with flour and roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Use your template to cut out 2 Easter shapes. Spread a thin layer of jam on one cookie, leaving about an inch border. Layer the remaining cookie on top and press firmly to close the cookie.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden (cook time will depend on shale and size!)
- Let cool and Decorate using a mixture of icing sugar and milk (whisk 1 cup sugar for every 3 tablespoons milk) and decorate with sprinkles. Let set.
