Mostaccioli

• • • Makes about 30 cookies • • •

Abruzzo, Campania, and Puglia all claim this spiced Christmas cookie as their own. They are all right; versions of mostaccioli can be found across Italy’s south. The addition of mosto cotto—grape must syrup—to the dough gives these cookies their tender, cake-like crumb and rich, almost raisin-like flavor. After baking, the cookies are thickly glazed with bittersweet chocolate. Tempering the chocolate is an extra step, but it will ensure that your glazed mostaccioli keep their beautiful sheen.

½ cup (70 g) raw skin-on almonds

3 cups (375 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface

1 cup (200 g) sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¾ cup (300 g) Mosto Cotto (page 244 or store-bought; see Sources)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 pound (454 g) bittersweet chocolate, for glazing

Equipment

Instant-read thermometer

1 • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 • Spread the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until fragrant, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cool completely. (Leave the oven on.) Grind the nuts in a food processor until finely chopped.

3 • Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the nuts and mix on low speed to combine. With the mixer on low, pour in the mosto cotto and the eggs. Mix until a soft ball of dough forms.

4 • Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. With a cookie cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into diamond shapes about 2 inches wide. Gather up any odd-shaped pieces and re-roll to make more mostaccioli. You should end up with about 30.

5 • Place the mostaccioli ½ inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set and lightly crackled on the surface, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

6 • To temper the chocolate for glazing: Coarsely chop 12 ounces (340 g) of the chocolate and leave the rest in large pieces. Put the chopped pieces in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Start stirring when the chocolate begins to melt and keep stirring until it is nearly melted. Remove the bowl from the pan and continue to stir until all the chocolate is melted. Use a digital thermometer to test the temperature of the chocolate. If it is above 100°F, keep stirring until it drops to 100°F. Add the remaining pieces of chocolate to the bowl and stir constantly until the temperature drops to 90°F. The goal is not to melt all the chocolate; in fact, if it does all melt, chances are the chocolate has not been properly tempered. Simply add another piece and keep stirring until the temperature registers 90°F.

7 • Have ready two baking sheets lined with parchment paper (I use the same parchment on which I baked the cookies). With a pastry brush, brush a thick layer of chocolate on the tops and sides of the mostaccioli and set them on the parchment. Let the chocolate set completely, for about 1 hour, before serving. Store the mostaccioli at room temperature in an airtight container. Stack the cookies in layers, with sheets of waxed paper between them to prevent scuffing. The mostaccioli will keep for 1 week.