Occasional Cookie #1

A recipe for Brutti ma Buoni; plus news about holiday cookie classes, and the winner of Italian Wine!

Please take a moment to admire this brilliant animated illustration by Daniela Bracco

Welcome to Buona Domenica, a weekly newsletter of inspired Italian home cooking. I’m Domenica Marchetti, journalist, cooking instructor, occasional tour guide, and author of eight cookbooks on Italian cuisine.

Speaking of cookbooks, we have a winner! The giveaway copy of Italian Wine, the book featured in last week’s newsletter goes to: Barbara! Congratulations! Please check your inbox today for an email from me.

---

Benvenuto Ottobre! This week begins a new series, which I’m calling ‘Occasional Cookie.’ As the name suggests, I will, from time to time, be posting a cookie recipe. Why? Because in the 20 months since I started this newsletter I’ve posted only two cookie recipes, a grave oversight on my part.

So, occasionally, when I feel like we all could use a good cookie, I’ll share a recipe—mostly Italian, but once in awhile maybe something else because I dearly love all cookies. Cookies are one of life’s biggest small pleasures and we could all use more of them.

As with all my new, previously unpublished, recipes, today’s cookie recipe is available to premium subscribers* (if you would like to upgrade, just click on the green button below). I’m also linking to some of my previously published cookie recipes for everyone’s enjoyment.

* The recipes I share here are thoroughly tested and take time and effort. I hope you understand why I can’t make them all available for free.

---

I’m kicking off the series with a classic: Brutti ma Buoni, which some of you already know translates to ‘ugly but good.’ It’s a silly name because as you can plainly see, there is nothing ugly about these cookies. I mean, look at those spectacular cracks and crags. These cookies are gorgeously rustic nuggets of crispy meringue interlaced with crunchy chopped toasted nuts. Inside lies a tender heart. I prefer to think of them as “buoni di brutto,” an expression I learned just the other day from

Giulia Scarpaleggia

, which means ‘so good they’re bad.’ In other words, really good.

The story that accompanies these cookies tells that they were created in 1869 by a pastry chef from Varese, in Lombardy, who had moved west to Borgomanero, in neighboring Piemonte, to open a bakery. One morning the chef, name of Viganotti, “inadvertently” knocked some egg whites into a bowl of sugar, or sugar into a bowl of almonds or almonds into egg whites. Honestly, I’ve heard so many of these “accidental” creation stories that I believe none of them. In any case, the cookies were born, and in 1905, Sig. Viganotti was awarded a gold medal at a prestigious international culinary exhibition in Paris.

Nowadays, brutti ma buoni are popular far beyond the borders of Borgomanero; you’ll find them in Tuscany and south into Rome. Like all meringue-based cookies, they are quite sweet, which means they are perfect for your morning or afternoon or evening or late night espresso.

As I was working on this recipe, I was trying to remember the first time I had one. I’m pretty sure was in 1994 at Ristorante Plistia, in Pescasseroli, Abruzzo. The restaurant is no longer but for many years it was my favorite (those of you who have my pasta book will have heard of it). After a memorable dinner (which I wrote about a long time ago; maybe I’ll revisit it here at some point), the chef, Laura del Principe, brought out an assortment of cookies nestled in a basket; mini brutti ma buoni were among them. I’ve loved them ever since and have always thought them beautiful, and, indeed, buoni di brutto.

Readers: What’s your all-time favorite Italian cookie?

---

HOLIDAY COOKIE CLASSES

Occhi di bue, one of the cookies we made in last year’s classe

Several of you have written to ask if I’ll be repeating my online holiday cookie classes, which I’ve been teaching since 2020. The answer is YES. I’m still working on which cookies we’ll be making this year so I don’t have details yet. As for dates, I’m looking at Saturday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 9. In past years, we’ve made ricciarelli di Siena, baci di dama, occhi di bue (butter cookies sandwiched with jam, pictured above), and giuggiulena (sesame-honey confections), among others. We’ve even made panforte di Siena and zabaglione liqueur. These classes are informative and lots of fun, so keep those dates in mind if you’re interested and stay tuned for details.

---

COOKIE LINKS: Three Fall Favorites

1. TORCETTI AL VINO: my favorite crunchy wine cookies for dipping

2. SPICED RED WINE COOKIES: my other favorite wine cookies for dipping

3. BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT BISCOTTI: shards of chocolate and coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts

   ---

And now, on to this week’s recipe. I won’t lie: these cookies can be tricky to make. The process involves whipping up a glossy meringue, which then has to be cooked on the stove top before being shaped into cookies and baked. It’s a bit like making candy or nougat. It’s messy, it’s sticky. It’s delicious.

RECIPE: Brutti ma Buoni

Spiced, oversized brutti ma buoni