Can you ID these cookies?

January 6, 2006 7:42 AM

Dear people with cookie-making and/or Italian grandmas, Can you identify this cookie, and help me find a recipe?

I have a coworker who brings in these big tins of awesome biscotti and something he says are called "torchettes", all made by his italian grandma and mailed to him. The torchettes are crisp and slightly flaky, not really sweet at all, but dusted with a little sugar. They are really awesome and wonderful, but my searches for a recipe, or even for confirmation of the name have come up dry. I have found other folks trying to find a recipe for "torchettes", plus lots of what seem to be recipe-themed fake spammy blog pages. Anyone recognize the cookies? Thanks!

posted by chr1sb0y to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Sounds like ginetti.
posted by dead_ at 7:49 AM on January 6, 2006

I've googled up some information on torchettes, but they seem to be a different beast from what you are seeking. The pages I found were in French, but basically torchettes are from Quimper in Brittany and are round (not hollow) cookies that contain nuts, chocolate and seawead! This site has a picture of a torchette stand and a guy who looks like he knows his cookies.
posted by hazyjane at 7:54 AM on January 6, 2006

Sorry, I should say some had chocolate, some had raisins. For another picture, do a search on this page for "voici la bête".
posted by hazyjane at 7:56 AM on January 6, 2006

dead_ is .....dead right. They sound and look like janettes (the American version of the name). My husband's grandmother makes these, and she either braids them or shapes them into Os, like yours. They're known as ginetti, anginetti, and janetti. Here's a recipe for an iced version, which you can opt out of. And another, and another with anise.
posted by iconomy at 8:36 AM on January 6, 2006

They look like zeppole to me....
posted by spaghetti at 8:43 AM on January 6, 2006

As I was reading the description I thought you were talking about Rosettes - fried cookies, but the ones I remember from my youth were never as substantial as the ones you've pictured. But yeah, now I'm hungry. Thanks.
posted by FlamingBore at 8:56 AM on January 6, 2006

Wow they really do look like zeppole ...this image in particular is a dead ringer. No pun intended. Zeppole is light and dense like a donut, and ginetti is harder and flakier, and crisp. At least in my experience. God I have to go eat something now.
posted by iconomy at 8:58 AM on January 6, 2006

My Italian family Americanizes just about everything. It comes from intermarrying with Polacks, Puerto Ricans and Germans. On some things we lose the original name and end up using some bastardized or descriptive name.

Those look suspiciously like one of my favorites. They are wine based and so have an almost yeasty, not-too-sweet flavor. They are baked and flakey, which I think, makes them a better candidate than some zeppole. You didn't mention any flavorings, so I sorta assumed they were without any strong flavors. I could be completely wrong, but you might like the recipe anyway. It wouldn't be hard to do the sugar sprinkle thing to this recipe.
These are great with wine, or with a shot of expresso.

Italian Wine Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup white wine
3-5 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder

Roll and shape into knots or twists and bake on a greased pan at 400
degrees till golden about 10 to 20 minutes.

From: Fiorella Diodati
posted by Seamus at 9:15 AM on January 6, 2006

Response by poster: to clarify: they have no special flavoring, and the definitely appear to be baked, not fried. they are reasonably tough/crisp for a cookie, approximately as crisp as the cookie part of a pepperidge farm milano cookie.
posted by chr1sb0y at 10:05 AM on January 6, 2006

I tried italianizing the name to torcetti and got a few Google hits, including these:

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/32/TorcettiLittleTwists67682.shtml
http://www.cyclingforums.com/archive/index.php/t-210039.html
posted by magicbus at 10:14 AM on January 6, 2006

Could you co-worker just ask his Italian grandmother how they are made?
posted by sixdifferentways at 12:12 PM on January 6, 2006

I think Seamus is right. Those look EXACTLY like my Nonna's wine cookies. Right down to the sugary (maybe w/ cinnamon?) sprinkly coating. I hate the things, personally, but my mother would actually kill someone for them.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:07 PM on January 6, 2006