Star Wars Italian Food: Anakin and Padme Wedding Cookies Recipe AKA Barely Italian Wedding Cookies Recipe

I can't seem to help myself...I'm still cooking/baking Italian!!! It's what I know. I don't know how to cook UKish, yet. 😄  We love, love, love Italian Wedding cookies. Not only the perfect almond flavoring, but also the way they sweetly MELT in one's mouth. Yum!!!

Real Italian Flavor!

One of the things about most Italian Wedding Cookie Recipes is they are made with only vanilla flavoring. That's not how it's done in our "barely Italian" family. We use flavors one would expect coming from Italy...and we like it better than the ones we have bought anywhere else. However, one can adjust the flavorings if they are making these into Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Teacakes. For instance, you might want to use Mexican vanilla and cinnamon in the Mexican Wedding Cookies. In Russian Teacakes, you might want to substitute some honey and ground walnuts for a more traditional flavor.

Roll 3 Times!

Also, many people only roll their cookies once in confectioner's sugar, but we roll each cookie three times in the powdered sugar to make sure the layer is thick for three reasons: (1) Wedding cookies are not that sweet on their own...they pick up most of their sweetness from the outer layer of powdered sugar. (2) The wedding cookies stay softer by being enclosed in this thick layer, less chance of drying out. (3) Most Italians believe strongly in the "Trinity" and the "three-strand cord wedding" and it's symbolic.

And don't forget the free printable Star Wars Party Food Label!!! 

Star Wars Italian Food:
Anakin and Padme Wedding Cookies Recipe
AKA Barely Italian Wedding Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups salted butter, melted
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 1/2 cups blanched almond meal
• 3 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon almond extract or amaretto extract (whichever you prefer)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Extra 2 cups of confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar) for rolling baked cookies

Pesto di Mandorle Recipe (Almond Pesto) Ingredients

Buongiorno miei amata amici! Nora Ephron wrote,

"Pesto is the quiche of the '80s"

and the line was used in Harry Met Sally becoming an instant famous movie quote with foodies. Somehow, pesto has yet to go out of style. Everybody seems to love Pesto. And the fantastic thing about Pesto, is with so many varieties, there is one to please almost anybody.

Pesto is a basil based sauce originating in Genoa, thus using Genovese Sweet Basil as its primary ingredient. The word Pesto comes from the Latin word "pesta" to pound or crust, and thus we also get the word Pestle in English. What is a pestle some may ask? It is the instrument used to grind in a mortar, made of marble, wood, or steel.

Today many cooks use their food processor and I certainly will not fault you if you so choose. However, in our casa, we use a marble mortar and pestle. Traditionally, Basil, coarse sea salt, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan are the ingredients. However, in our recipe, we substitute raw almonds for the pine nuts and add garlic.

• 1 bunch of organic, Genovese sweet basil
• 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (Trader Joe's)
• 2 organic garlic cloves, minced
• 3 Tablespoons of organic, raw almonds, ground fine or Trader Joe's Almond Meal
• 3 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 dash of coarse sea salt (fine salt will work too)

Directions:

Remove the stems from the basil leaves, and rinse them thoroughly under cold water. Place basil in a mortar or food processor. If using a mortar, grind a small amount at a time and add more using a pestle until finely ground. If using a mortar, add olive oil after grinding basil.

Pesto di Mandorle Recipe (Almond Pesto)

If using a food processor add olive oil at the same time as the basil and process until smooth. Combine garlic, nuts, cheese, and salt and continue mixing until well blended.

Depending on your purpose, you can add more olive oil if needed.

Pesto makes a delicious addition to Italian sauces, served as the main sauce, or as a dip.

Buongiorno miei amata amici! Biscotti's root words mean "twice baked" which is befitting for this treat. In Italian biscotti means cookie or biscuit. Thus biscotti is a twice-baked cookie! For it is first baked into a loaf and then sliced diagonally into cookies and rebaked to toast the outside of this delicacy giving it a crisp outside and a texture similar to shortbread inside. In our family, homemade Biscotti is also consumed twice as fast, as store bought versions.

Biscotti was developed in Tuscany and served with wine, such as Vin Santo. It is a dipping cookie, whether paired with wine, coffee, or tea. Coffee houses have found that customers love biscotti with their cup of cappuccino. They also make an elegant decor on top of gelato.

Because Biscotti are baked so as to dry them out to prevent mold and they keep well in an airtight container for months at a time, sailors loved them, notably Christopher Columbus. The shelf life is approximately 2-6 months without preservatives, dependent upon your additions and how well they are dried out during baking.

Versatility is the chef's friend with biscotti. Your imagination is your limit. Traditionally they were made with butter, eggs, sugar, flour, and almonds. Today, you can find them in many flavors and baking them yourself lends you the key to unique biscotti. Your friends and family will be raving about the best biscotti they have ever enjoyed after savoring your baking.

• 3/4 cup of real butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-2 T of flavoring (depending on the strength)
• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Chocolate for melting (I used 50/50 of Ghirardelli's milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips)

For my amaretto flavored cookies I confess I did not only use a little almond extract flavoring, but I also added my husband's amaretto flavored non-dairy creamer (about a 1/3 cup). I should like to try them with some Italian Amaretto liqueur in the future.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper for the best result, otherwise lightly grease your cookie sheet.

In my Kitchen Aid mixer I creamed together the butter and sugar, then added the flavorings. I then beat in the eggs, baking powder, and salt. I then mixed in the flour until well blended.

I divided the dough in half and shaped it into foot long logs on my cookie sheet, pressing each into about a 1/2" thick. This needs not be exact, as biscotti is forgiving.

Bake the biscotti for about 30 minutes either on the bottom or center racks of your oven. Remove from oven and cool down enough to work with, but not all the way cool. Using a serrated knife, cut them diagonally into 1/2" thick slices. Gently separate the slices from each other just a tad so the heat can get to all sides of each slice. Place back in oven for another 10-15 minutes to finish the baking, turning slices over about midway.

After removing from the oven, let them cool some. I then melted chocolate (can be done either in the microwave or in the top of a double boiler), spooned it into a small Ziploc baggie and snip a very small tip off one corner. Then I squeezed zig-zags across the biscotti in a couple of directions. I did place the cookies in the freezer for a couple of minutes to set the chocolate before storing. In the future, I will share with you a traditional biscotti recipe using olive oil, instead of butter.

Let your imagination guide you. One could add sliced almonds to this or crush almonds to put on top of the chocolate. Or why not try hazelnuts? For kid friendly biscotti, replace the amaretto with vanilla and cinnamon and then glaze them with white chocolate or icing with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on it. Christmas time you could use crush Ghirardelli Peppermint Chocolate to use inside or drizzle on the outside and serve with Ghirardelli's famous Peppermint Hot Cocoa.

I did not add real almonds to mine to keep mine kid friendly and my children love it. They rather enjoy learning about their Italian Culture through their taste buds.