This is what is special about these biscuits. Although they are often ordered from local trusted bakeries (I made this after two generations of purchased Mostacciuoli), they are one of the staples of ...
Read moreMostacciuoli Napoletani
The Story
Biscuits that keep together two weeks of Christmas Spirit.
Mostacciuoli Napoletani
The Mostacciuolo (also called Mustaccioli, Mostaccioli. Etc etc..). is only one of the siblings of the classic Neapolitan family of Christmas biscuits: the others are struffoli, raffaiuoli semplici e a cassata, susamielli, roccocò, pasta reale.
These Mostacciuoli cookies are what I believe is the most contradictory (edible) thing of the South of Italy:
1) More vegan than a celery stick: they only need an explosion of spices called “Pisto” and then flour , cocoa, sugar and water - no eggs, milk or dairy fats whatsoever.
2) They use an audacious mix of spices that are otherwise completely forgotten for any other typical Italian food: coriander seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove etc.. (The Pisto).
The sprinkles are what I call a “tier4 allowance”. The Mostacciuoli would indeed be humble-looking, dipped in either white or dark chocolate. But this Christmas 2020 we quite need some extra frill to cheer up our Christmas, don’t we?
Ingredients
Biscuit dough
- 550 g all purpose flour
- 300 g caster sugar
- 50 g brown muscovado sugar
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 10 g baking soda / bicarbonate
- 175 g warm water
- 20 g Pisto
- half vanilla pod
Pisto (Spices mix)
- 5 g ground black pepper
- 5 g ground nutmeg
- 2 g ground star anise
- 2 g cinnamon
- 2 g ground coriander seeds
- 2 g ground cloves
Glazing
- 300 g dark chocolate
- 300 g white chocolate
Instructions
- Mix thoroughly the dry ingredients.
- Add the warm water and mix until the dough is formed.
- Shape the dough in a ball, roll in cling film and leave to rest for one hour in the fridge.
- With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it becomes a 7 mm thick and smooth pastry.
- With a ruler, trace with the knife diagonal lines to cut the typical rhomboid shape.
- Leave the raw biscuits to rise in an oven tray for 30 mins.
- Bake the biscuits at 160° for 10 minutes.
- Leave the biscuits to cool down for 20 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate (I used the microwave for approx 1 minute) in two separate bowls.
- Glaze each biscuit either forming the bi colour version of plain dark / plain white chocolate.
- Leave to cool down again until the chocolate solidifies.
- Enjoy!
