Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Holiday Buzz

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

BAKING UP BISCOCHITOS with an ITALIAN TWIST for #Christmas from author @CleoCoyle

From Cleo Coyle: Biscochitos (aka bizcochitos) are tender shortbread cookies irresistibly flavored with anise and cinnamon. They were originally developed by Spanish settlers in the New Mexico Territory and are traditionally served at weddings, birthdays, and religious holidays, including Christmas, but they're also enjoyed with coffee or milk in the morning and after dinner with wine or again (you guessed it) coffee. ☕

This recipe puts a little twist on it, based on my own Italian background, which is also that of Clare's, the amateur sleuth in the long-running Coffeehouse Mystery series that I write in collaboration with my husband.

It's also the perfect cookie to celebrate this month's publication of the beautiful Spanish edition of our Coffeehouse Mystery, HOLIDAY BUZZ.

Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery

series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

☕ A NOTE FROM CLEO ON...

Baking Up Biscochitos
with an Italian twist

In Holiday Buzz (our 12th Coffeehouse Mystery) our amateur sleuth, Greenwich Village coffeehouse manger and master roaster Clare Cosi, caters a series of glittering Manhattan holiday parties and tracks down clues to a murder that occurs after one of them.

Because this delightful cookie was included on Clare's party trays, I tried to imagine how she might have adapted the traditional recipe. First, I assumed that she would make her biscochitos using a combination of butter and vegetable shortening instead of the traditional lard. Then I assumed she'd use Italian Marsala for the sweet wine; and finally, Clare would have replaced the anise seeds, which can be bitter, with anise extract, something her nonna would have used in Italian cookies like pizzelle and biscotti.

For the shape, I thought Clare might have chosen a cookie cutter that celebrated the cookie's origins, something that evoked a golden Southwestern sun. And that's how I arrived at the recipe you see in this post.

Happy Holidays, everyone. May you...

☕ Bake with love and eat

with joy to the world!

~ Cleo

To download a PDF of this

recipe that you can print,

save, or share, click here.

Click for the free recipe PDF.

☕ Biscochitos
with an an Italian Twist
by Cleo Coyle

Makes about 6 dozen cookies of 2-inches in diameter, rolled slightly under ¼-inch in thickness (these cookies are sometimes rolled thicker; just note that they will make less)

Ingredients:

For dough:

½ cup vegetable shortening
½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten with fork
3 cups flour
½ teaspoon anise extract (increase to ¾ teaspoon for stronger anise flavor)
¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract
¼ cup Marsala (or brandy, port, wine, or milk or water)*

For cinnamon-sugar finish:

¼ cup sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon

*AS NOTED: If you do not wish to use alcohol, substitute milk or water.

Step 1 – Make the dough: Cream the shortening, butter, sugar, and pinch of salt until fluffy. Blend in the egg, vanilla, anise and vanilla extracts. Mix in the flour (dough will be very dry and crumbly). Add the ¼ cup Marsala (or the substitutions listed above) and mix only until the dough comes together.

NOTE: Adding too much liquid at this point will toughen your cookies. If your climate is very dry and the dough is truly too dry and crumbly and needs more liquid, then add Marsala (or the liquid substitutions) in very small increments—no more than one teaspoon at a time—until the dough comes together.

Step 2 – Chill: Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes, or up to six hours (but no more for best results).

Step 3 – Roll, Cut, Sprinkle, and Bake: Preheat your oven to 350° F for at least thirty minutes to be sure it's hot enough. If the dough is chilled to the point of hardness, allow it to warm a bit. Roll the dough out (for best results, see my tips below) and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Mix the cinnamon sugar in a bowl and generously sprinkle the cookie tops. Bake for about 10 to 13 minutes. These cookies freeze beautifully. See my notes about storage below...

* * *

CLEO'S TIPS ON ROLLING DOUGH: For best results, use little or no flour. Simply roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. This is a much better method of working with dough (and preventing sticking) than using flour. Adding flour toughens cookie dough while this method keeps it tender.

Once the dough is rolled out, do not remove the top layer of parchment paper because it may stick to the dough. INSTEAD: Slide it (parchment paper and all) onto a baking sheet and slip the pan into the refrigerator until cold. This will harden the butter in the dough and make it less sticky so you can easily remove the top layer of parchment paper. Chilling the dough also makes the dough easier to cut.

Once chilled, remove the sheet pan from the fridge, carefully peel off the top layer of parchment paper, and use your cookie cutter to stamp out your cookies...

Remove any excess dough between the cutouts. (I use a knife tip for this.) Add the dough scraps to your remaining dough to be rolled again.

Sprinkle unbaked cookies with cinnamon sugar, place pan into oven, and follow baking directions in Step 3 above (baking 10 to 13 minutes in a well-preheated 350° F oven).

Final note: These cookies freeze very well. Stack them into a wax paper-lined plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. No defrosting needed, especially if you're dunking them into a cup of tea or (even better)…coffee.