Halloween cookies from Italy
Ossa dei morti
In Italy this Halloween cookies recipe is a sweet treat known as ‘Bones of the Dead’ made to celebrate Ognissanti.
As a cultural protestant I’ve always found the celebration of All Saints’ Day kind of morbid, which may explain my fascination with the Italian traditions. From Puglian friends I’ve heard of family picnics to the graveyard on November 1st, and when the kids wake up the next morning on All Souls Day November 2nd, they’ll find a sweet treat from dead relatives. One of the sweets could be ‘Ossa dei Morti’ or ‘Bones of the Dead’ – a tooth breaking cookie in the shape of a bone.
I’m not sure whether the tradition is still practiced in modern Italian families, but I kind of like the cookies. They are particularly good when served as an extra spoon with a creamy mousse or sorbet and a sweet vino dolce wine.
Ingredients
150 g ground almonds
150 g flour
150 g powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
grated lemon zest
2 egg whites
Powdered sugar for dusting.
Preparation
Beat the egg whites to form stiff, firm peaks.
Mix flour, almonds, sugar, cinnamon and grated lemon zest and fold it into the egg whites.
Dust you hands with flour and roll knob of dough into fingersized sticks.
Place the sticks on non-stick paper and bake at 170 C/350 F for 15-20 minutes.
The cookies burn easily so keep an eye on the oven.
Let the Halloween cookies cool before dusting them with powdered sugar.
They get better – less hard – after a couple of days.
Other recipes like these Halloween cookies
Irregular shapes with sugar dusting make these Halloween cookies from Italy look like bone
Those do look very tasty. Those are certainly a couple of interesting traditions. I agree, that is pretty morbid.
It is, but most children love it.
It is that time of year indeed – I am with you on the morbid factor, but the cookies sure are a winner. Happy Halloween!
And Happy Halloween to you too, Adri. I’m sure you’ve mixed up someting good to celebrate :)
Yum! These sound delicious and although I have heard of Day of the Dead, I hadn’t heard of all saints day- I like it much better!!
Nice to know I haven’t scared you all off :)
The Lutherans do recognize All Souls and All Saints day but a lot of Lutherans do not consider themselves Protestants either. Here in New Mexico we have Day of the Dead which is extremely interesting Fiesta day
Stationed at San Vito from 1987-1992
That’s so interesting, and so very different from Scandinavia. And then I’m impressed by your 5 years in Puglia. It must have been so very different back then. At least I found it pretty exotic the first time I visited which was in 1994 I think. Things have changed a lot since then.