Santa Lucia cookies are among my favorites.
I call these biscuits “of Santa Lucia” because they are the ones we made at home to celebrate the feast.
Sometimes the kind of biscuit was different.
But the tradition of Santa Lucia biscuits, where I was born and raised, calls for shortcrust pastry.
The tradition of Saint Lucia.
The celebration of the patron saint of eyesight has its roots in the history of peasant culture and was linked to the winter solstice, which used to fall on 13 December.
Once, in Italy, children would ask her for gifts.
On the night between 12 and 13 December, people left milk and biscuits on the kitchen table, the same thing they do for Santa Klaus today.
When I was a child, the tradition of gifts being brought by Santa on Christmas Eve had already begun.
But on St Lucia and Epiphany, I would get candy and biscuits on 13 December and the stock with sweets and small toys on 6 January.
I still today remember with happiness the memory of the feast of Saint Lucia and the annual Fair that has been held in Bologna since the 18th century and which takes her name.
I remember when my parents and I used to leave Imola to spend a day in Bologna, which included a tour of the Quadrilateral, a visit to the Nativity scene in the Chiesa dei Servi, and, finally, a stop at the Fair to buy sweets and candies. I have never forgotten the joy of those afternoons.
Santa Lucia cookies and Ovis Mollis shortcrust pastry.
One of the secrets of shortcrust pastries that look like clouds and taste as good as the ones you buy in a bakery is in the shortcrust Ovis Mollis.
It is the name of the dough where, instead of fresh eggs, only the yolks of hard-boiled eggs are mixed in.
These, together with the potato starch and icing sugar, are the ingredients that make Ovis Mollis shortcrust pastry so delicious.
But it is the hard-boiled yolk that changes the shortcrust pastry from good to incredible.
Buona cucina, Monica
And then there’s this thing about decorating with lots of icing sugar.
Don’t underestimate it. This shortcrust pastry sprinkled with icing sugar is like a sofa and a blanket on a cold winter’s day, like cream on hot chocolate, like…
I don’t know you go ahead with the perfect couple. I’m sure you’ve grasped the importance of wrapping the cookies in a delicate cloud of sugar.
In the mood for cookies.
HERE you will find all the biscuit recipes I have published on the blog.
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Santa Lucia Cookies with Ovis Mollis Shortcrust Pastry
about 40 cookies
List of Ingredients
00 flour or shortcrust flour, 150g
potato starch, 100g
boiled yolks, 3
cold butter, 150g
powdered cane sugar, 100g
grated rind of 1 small lemon
1 pinch of salt
Icing sugar to decorate
Method
Cook the hard-boiled eggs for about 7 minutes.
When cooked, place them under cold water, peel and crush only the yolks with a fork or pass them through a sieve.
In a large bowl, mix flour, potato starch, and a pinch of salt. Add the butter cut into chunks, the grated lemon rind, the egg yolks (sieved or crushed). Then knead with energy, trying to use mainly the tip of your fingers. Like a ballet dancer, only on the contrary.
If you prefer, finish kneading on a clean, slightly floured surface. When the ingredients are well mixed, wrap in the film and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes-1 hour.
Roll out the shortcrust on a clean, lightly floured surface with the help of a rolling pin, then form cookies about 7-8mm high using the mold of your choice.
Place them on a paper-covered baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven (not ventilated, 170 degrees) for about 10-12 minutes.
Even if they still seem soft to you, take them out from the oven.
When they cool down, take on the right consistency. Let’s say that as soon as there is a slight coloring on the edges, you should remove them.
Let it cool completely before removing them from the pan and when you do, help yourself with a fork or spatula.
Cover each cookie in a cloud of powdered sugar.
