Grandma Comperchio's Italian Easter Cookies

Every Easter, my grandmother made the same cookies. If you've read some of the other things I've written about her, you already know how much I loved her. She was so very special and was always trying to feed anyone who visited her home. I truly wish I could share with her the things I've learned about her side of the family. I'll always wonder if she ever met her maternal grandmother Anna Emilia da Silva, who she was named after, or knew the real story of her origin.

When I was first given copies of these recipes, I thought, 'this can't be right. These recipes are...incoherent.' Then I thought about it and it made sense. Her cooking was all in her head. If she had tried to describe them to someone later in her life, then they probably were pretty difficult to transcribe.

There have been a few times in translating them that I thought, 'sorry...how much salt?' I left those things as they are but notated them so that if you try to make them you won't necessarily go dumping huge amounts of table salt into your cookies and then wonder why they're terrible.

Over the course of time, my plan is to adjust and perfect these recipes to accommodate a contemporary palette. While they may have been just fine for their day, there are some aspects of these cookies that aren't as palatable as they were in days gone by. I'd like to resuscitate them though.

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OK readers! As we approach Easter, since I haven't had time to write out the new recipes, but did actually make the new cookies (you know...a year ago...sorry), here's the story:

• Increase the butter

• Decrease the flour

• If the recipe calls for an extract like almond extract, add almond paste and decrease the extract. Use vanilla bean paste in lieu of vanilla flavoring. We've moved past 'fake' and real flavors are much more palatable. Plus, while I can acknowledge that there would have been a period in the '90s and on where maybe Grandma Anna would have just used what was available at Stop N Shop, she would have absolutely used real flavors in the 1950s.

• Pipe the cookies using a large star tip, a large round tip, etc. They come out less chewy this way.

• Make the icing a little thicker and add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. It firms up more.

I will do my best to take photos this year!

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