Torta Sbrisolona

This plain but delicious dessert, more cookie than cake, is found in Lombardy and parts of Emilia-Romagna. It was originally prepared by farmers using ingredients they were likely to have on hand—flour, cornmeal, sugar, a little lard or butter, and almonds.

Sbrisolona roughly translates to “big crumbly thing” from the verb “sbricolare,” which means to cr…