The look on my dad’s face was priceless. I haven’t made these cookies in at least 10 years. He waxed reminiscent about searching for these cookies with his brother. My grandma would hide the Christmas cookies from her boys so they weren’t all gone before Christmas. He thinks she knew that they found them and would eat a couple after school each day. But she never said anything.
These were worth the hassle because they brought so much gladness. This is a recipe from my paternal great-grandmother. It’s way over 100 years old and I haven’t changed anything because perfection doesn’t need to change.
When I posted these on Instagram a lot of people commented that they loved the "glazed biscotti". These aren't biscotti in texture or taste. They're actually a soft, delicate, cake-like cookie and not the toasted, crunchy, firm cookie dunked into espresso. They're lightly scented with citrus but what shines through here is texture.
I've found this recipe to be a touch finicky. Great-grandma didn't measure so measurements were roughly jotted down. Rest assured, this is the original recipe. The brand of flour, the humidity in the room and my willingness to play with these can alter how much flour I use. I recommend baking a small "row" to make sure the texture is right before making them all. If they spread too much add more flour. This isn't to dissuade you from making them but I wanted to mention that they're a divine cookie, well worth the effort but one that takes some practice. My grandmother baked these until they were dry. I like mine just baked so they're soft and pillowy. If they last until the next day or two they're lovely dunked into tea.
RECIPE:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Crisco, melted
1 tsp lemon or orange peel
4 cups flour [begin with 2 1/2 cups]
1/2 teaspoon table salt [finely ground, not Kosher]
2 cups Confectioners Sugar
1/4 tsp lemon peel
nonpariels
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I have a convection oven and use that setting. Break eggs into bowl. Add sugar and gradually mix thoroughly. Sift flour, salt, baking powder together in another bowl. Grate lemon peel. Melt Crisco, allow to cool until it is only tepid. Gradually add flour to egg mixture, fold four into egg mixture [I start with 2 cups of flour and add more]. Add lemon peel and crisco. Batter should be the consistency of rubber cement. It'll be stiff but you should be able to stir without a lot of effort. You don't want a dry batter b/c cookies will be dry. Let batter sit 10 mins before baking. While it's sitting, add parchment to cookie sheets and grease well. Using a tablespoon drop batter in long lines down the pan. Give them space. 2 loaves per pan. They spread. They should be 1 1/2 inches wide x 1/2 inch high. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, approximately 20 minutes. Let sit on cookie sheet for 5 minutes to allow them to firm up or pull the parchment onto wire wrack. Don't allow to sit too long on parchment though. Remove them after 5 minutes to wire rack and cool completely.
Mix Confectioners sugar with 1/4 teaspoon lemon peel, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and add water until you have a thick frosting. Ice loaves and sprinkle with nonpareils. When icing is dry, cut on a bias into bars. If you aren't serving immediately I would store these uncut. These are not biscotti. They're a soft, teacake kind of cookie. I store them in glass containers with foil covering them.
I have more details about this recipe in an very old blog post found here. Same recipe with a different technique.
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