By Francesca Montillo, ISDA Food + Travel Writer

Nothing says Christmas like the smell and taste of ginger. I grew up in Southern Italy and while I had access to a bounty of Christmas desserts, such as panettone, Pandoro, and the jaw-breaking torrone, no food to me says Christmas like these susumelli, or in my Calabrian dialect, mustacciuli calabres.

These are chocolaty, spicy, decadent and surprisingly not overly sweet. The addition of honey adds a natural sweetness, and the addition of citrus zest and either limoncello or orange juice adds a tanginess to them.

These offer complex flavors, and I must admit, they are a bit of work, but so worth it. The tricky part of this recipe is that the dough can be a bit sticky to work with. Make sure you have floured hands, a floured work surface and a well-floured rolling pin.

Traditionally, they are diamond shape, but I’m not going to lie, one year the dough was particularly sticky to work with, that I just used a cookie scoop instead of shaping them. They were still delicious, if not traditionally shaped!

Susumelli Calabrese

Yields about 5 – 6  dozen cookies (depending on size and thickness)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cup almonds, finely ground

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup honey

Zest of 1 orange or 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons limoncello liquor or orange juice

Glaze:

24 oz. baking chocolate (You can use milk, dark, semi-sweet, white, or a combination)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, finely ground almonds, cocoa powder, spices, baking powder and salt and then set aside.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar together using a hand-held or stand mixer. Add in the honey, and beat until combined. Add in zest, vanilla and limoncello.
4. Slowly add in the flour mixture until combined. The dough will be soft, sticky and pliable.
5. Transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and divide it in 4 portions. With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/3-inch thickness. Using a diamond cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and transfer to the baking sheet.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 13 – 15 minutes. Cookies are done when the bottom has slightly darkened. They will still be a bit soft at doneness.

Glaze: Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Tip top of cooled cookies in the chocolate. Allow chocolate to set before serving, about 1½ – 2 hrs.

Note: Traditionally, these are shaped like a diamond, but you could use any cookie cutter you have on hand. Since the dough is very soft and can be difficult to work with it, you could also roll out the dough into balls and bake as such.

 

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