My mother once asked me how I came up with ideas for my stories, not realizing that she was my inspiration for so many of them. I enjoy sharing my adventures and my recipes, but sometimes my mind just blanks out. That’s what happened to me last month. Here I was fast approaching the deadline for the column and no story or recipe came to mind.
I started thinking about recipes that I haven’t made in years and I went hunting in my recipe’s boxes. Now I have a multitude of cookbooks and cooking magazines, but I also have newspaper clippings, typed and handwritten recipes from family and friends. I have three different card files, jammed packed, and in no semblance of order. What a challenge it is to find a recipe that you know is hidden somewhere between the pages of a book or in those recipe boxes. I’m still looking for a recipe for a yummy cake that my father loved.
One of the card files has cookie recipes which are divided by a card written by my niece Tanya, which said “unwanted cookies”. That card brought back memories of our short lived venture into the cookie making business. It was in the late 80’s that we decided to try our hand at making cookies trays for the holidays. Our business was called “Cookies Galore”. The first year, we made several trays with assortment of cookies for people to sample. One taste and we had dozens of orders for pounds of cookies; to say we were ill prepared was an understatement. If you came to visit, you were put to work rolling out cookies, no one was spared.
We quickly learned what cookies to make and what cookies not to make, thus the section labeled “unwanted cookies”. It was a learning experience and we were in business for a few years. There were quite a few people disappointed when we retired Cookies Galore. The other treasures in my card file are my mother’s handwritten recipes. Now not only do they invoke sweet memories but they bring tears to my eyes. There was a recipe for a Piedmontese Torcetti Italian pastry that she had signed, Mary Grossi 78. I’m not sure who gave her the recipe, but I remember the cookies-light, flaky and just sweet enough to be addicting! I can still see her rolling the dough and making figure eights. Now that I have found the recipe, I’ll have to make them. I give you my mother’s recipe for Torcetti.
Torcetti
1/2 lb. butter
1/2 lb. shortening
5 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 tbs. sugar
2 1/4 tsps. yeast
1/2 tbs. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
In a large bowl, cut butter and shortening into flour until mixture is a fine as cornmeal, set aside. Combine milk, sugar, and vanilla and stir in yeast until the yeast is dissolved. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture; beat in the eggs mix until a stiff dough forms. Add more flour if necessary. Knead the dough slightly and let rise until double in size, about an hour. Cover a bread board or work area with confectioners’ sugar. Roll out small pieces of dough in the confectioners’ sugar about as thick as your finger and 8-inches long, shape into figure eights. Place on greased cookie sheet, bake in 375* degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes 60-70 cookies
Mangia With Micheline 