This cookie is native to Piedmont in northern Italy, the regional fare of which has recently been “discovered” by Americans. The Italian recipe name translates as “ugly but good.”

This recipe is from Andrea Purinan, who, with his father, runs Il Fornaio in Udine. It is his version of the classic cookie of the region: a rough cluster of sugared nuts, cooked first on top of the stove, then baked until crisp outside, slightly chewy within, with a haunting nut flavor. Buono!