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Ingredients For batter*
Directions Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees.
Notes In the 1960s when I was growing up in Montreal, my late aunt, Zia Teresa, used to make this style of lemon cookie. I loved them then, and I still love them. But as I wasn't then old enough to take note of the exact proportions my aunt used to make her cookies, I can't be 100 percent sure this recipe duplicates what she did. My cousins and I have different recollections of these cookies because my aunt, like most home cooks, changed the recipe over the years. When I was a little girl she made the cookies round-shaped (My cousins remember that their mother used a small glass for measurement!), and then, later on, because her husband liked to dunk the cookies in his coffee, presented them as ladyfingers. In many ways these cookies are kind of round-shaped ladyfingers. While my cousins did manage to write down the recipe my late aunt used, that recipe was for the cookies she made in the 1980s -- one I wasn't as fond of. I tried to duplicate the cookies I ate as a little girl, and I think I more or less succeeded with the recipe in this entry.... This style of cookie was, and still is, made in Molise and other areas of Southern Italy. Sometimes it is presented as a round-shaped cookie, sometimes as an oval-shaped one, and sometimes, it is presented in the classic ladyfinger shape. Generally, the cookies are rather thin and light in texture, and not thick like the famous French Madeleine small cakes. As to the name of the cookies, well that's up for debate. I believe my aunt called them "pas'tic." That's possibly Molisani dialect for the word, "pasticcio," (singular) and "pasticci" (plural). The word, "pasticcini," means a small-sized pasticcio; so in dialect it would also be "pas'sticc' or "pa'sticc'." In actual fact the Italian word, "pasticcio," does not necessarily mean a lemon cookie, it simply is the generic word used to describe any kind of cookie, small tart or sweet. The Italian word, pasticcini" I believe is a generic term which describes any kind of a small tart, cake or cookie. That said, my aunts' daughters are not so sure that their mother called them "pas'tic." They think she called them biscotti. Memories related to food are emotionally charged, best not to argue who is right or wrong. All I know for sure is that these traditional Molisani lemon cookies are worth a try. They're easy to do. And they're incredibly cheap. They don't look all that decorative, but what they lack in looks, they make up in flavor. Content over form. One can think of them as "Ladyfingers for the Everyday." Or, Ladyfingers-On-the-Go. Unlike the other famous Molisani lemon cookie that often go by the name, "Biscotti con Limone," that come with a thick lemon glaze these particular cookies are wonderfully and joyfully simple. Moist but not creamy, sweet but not syrupy. The right cookie for those who like their (kitchen) lives uncomplicated..... Personal comments and photo: Mary Melfi. |