In Abruzzo, and in particular in the Teramo area, bocconotti stuffed with grape jam are among the most popular, most famous and most loved Christmas sweets. According to tradition, strictly followed by our grandmothers, they had to be prepared every year at the beginning of December, in huge quantities, to then be given to relatives and acquaintances or offered to guests for the duration of the Christmas holidays.
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In Abruzzo, and in particular in the Teramo area, Bocconotti stuffed with grape jam are among the most popular, most famous and most loved Christmas sweets. According to tradition, strictly followed by our grandmothers, they had to be prepared every year at the beginning of December, in huge quantities, to then be given to relatives and acquaintances or offered to guests for the duration of the Christmas holidays.
Legend has it that these shortbread sweets were born in Castel Frentano, in the province of Chieti, in the XNUMXth century, and then spread throughout Abruzzo and other southern regions, such as Molise, Puglia and Calabria. If the shape is more or less the same - as the name suggests, the bocconotto must be able to be eaten "in one bite" -, the composition of the filling varies greatly according to the different geographical areas.
In the province of Teramo, for example, it is generally based on grape jam, enriched as desired with roasted and chopped almonds, cinnamon e cacao. The recipe that I report below is a biological reinterpretation of what has been handed down for generations in my family.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 eggs
- 2 yolks
- 300 g of raw cane sugar
- 300 g of cold pressed seed oil
- 2 sachets of cream of tartar
- About 900 g of organic flour
For the stuffing:
- 400 g organic grape jam
- Bitter cocoa
- cinnamon,
- roasted and chopped almonds
Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and start mixing them with a fork: the traditional recipe involves the use of lard. But alternatively it is possible to use seed oil, in the same quantity: the result is equivalent.
Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead it until it is smooth, homogeneous, soft and elastic: you will have reached the right consistency when you manage to form a ball that comes off your hand. Let it rest for a quarter of an hour and concentrate on the filling, adding to taste grape jam, ground almonds, bitter cocoa and cinnamon. Know that there is no general rule for mixing the ingredients, the filling if you do not follow your own taste.
Roll out the dough on a floured work surface, until you obtain a sheet of about 3 mm thick, which you will use to line molds with a base of about 4 cm, cutting the excess dough from the edges. Put a generous teaspoon of filling in the center of the mold and seal it all with a second layer of shortcrust pastry, cutting off the excess dough once again.
The bocconotti must be cooked in a preheated oven at 180 ° for about 20 minutes (and in any case until golden brown). Let them cool and, before serving, sprinkle them very generously with powdered sugar.
Lisa Vagnozzi
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