Jam biscuits from Puglia
Biscotti ripieni di cotognata
These jam biscuits capture the essence of Puglia in the winter time in one sweet bite. But bakeries sell them all year round.
Winter in Puglia tastes of cotognata. A thick, sweet marmalade made from quince, grapes, plums, prunes, figs or whatever comes your way. Every household seems to have their own recipe, for cotognata is not a preserve that can be bought in ordinary shops. It is a homemade pleasure or a gift received as a token of appreciation or friendship.
In Puglian bakeries you can, however, buy cotognata filled panzerottini jam biscuits. Or you can make them at home, take a bite, close your eyes and pretend you are in Puglia the south of Italy.
If you haven’t got quince, grapes and figs or cotognata you can replace it by vegetarian English mincemeat or fig or quince jam.
Ingredients
250 g flour
100 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
150 g butter
1 egg
1 lemon – juice
200 g cotognata (thick marmalade or mincemeat can be used instead)
Preparation
Mix all the dry ingredients flour, sugar and vanilla sugar.
Crumble butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles white bread crumbs.
Add egg and lemon juice and press the crumbles together to make a firm dough. Don’t knead it more than necessary.
Roll the dough out in a thin layer (I normally place it between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent sticking).
Cut the dough out in circles with a diameter 3” cake ring.
Place a small spoonful of cotognata on every other circle make a couple of slits in the circles without cotognata and press the two circles together. (You can also place a smaller amount of cotognata on each circle and fold them over to crescents in classic panzarotti style)
Place the cakes on a greased or paper-clad baking sheet and bake them at 180 C / 350 F for about 20 minutes.
Let the jam biscuits cool and keep them in an airtight container.
More on quince and figs like these jam biscuits
Panzarottini biscuits from Puglia filled with jam.
Looks delicious. Thank you for the recipe, Mette! :)
My pleasure:)