Name: “Mouthfuls” from Abruzzo (Bocconotti Abruzzesi)
Yield: Makes about 12 pastries
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: ½ cup sugar; ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces; ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder; ⅓ cup sugar; Cold water, if needed; 1 cup (about 6½ ounces) whole almonds, skins on; 2 large eggs; Grated zest of 1 orange or lemon; 2 cups all-purpose flour; Cinnamon sugar or cinnamon confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling; Pinch ground cinnamon; ⅔ cup sweet Marsala, Vin Santo or sweet sherry, or as needed

Preparation info

Makes about
12
pastries

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Classic Home Desserts

By Richard Sax

Published 1994

About

Bocconotti (“mouthfuls”) were a specialty of my grandmother,” explains Abruzzo native Anna Teresa Callen, author of several cookbooks. The nut-and-wine-filled pastry is traditionally baked in a tallish fluted mold similar to a brioche mold. You can bake the pastries in brioche molds or in a muffin tin.

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup</

Method

DOUGH: In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and butter until crumbly. Add the eggs and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Gather the dough into a ball (adjust the consistency if necessary, adding a little cold water if the dough is dry, or sprinkling it with a little more flour if it is too sticky). Press into a disk, wrap in plastic or wax pape