Grandma Comperchio's Italian Easter Cookies
- Leslie DiOrio
- May 23, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 3
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? Does that say SEVEN teaspoons of baking powder?' 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. I often wonder if that's one of those things our ancestors did to test us. ('I'll give you this recipe, but you have to pass my hazing ritual first...')
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. I do acknowledge that is going to get all kinds of side eye from my aunt who will nod along with this concept, and then tell me to take out the butter I added and increase the milk, basically reverting to the original recipe.
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OK readers! As we approach Easter, I finally did it! There are a few general changes.
Increase the butter.
Decrease the flour.
Cookies need butter and eggs. Milk alone isn't enough of an emollient.
Anise does not belong in all the things.
I have no idea where the coconut came from. It's probably not authentic. They're my favorite though so don't judge me.
If you only add 6 1/2 cups of flour to the biscotti, you will end up with soup.
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 where maybe Grandma Anna would have just used what was available at Stah Mahket, 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 even remembered the photos this year. Enjoy the largest biscotti known to man!
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