Proud Italian Cook

 This cookie platter is the result of four Italian gals chatting on Facebook about some of the cookies we were baking, Adri, Linda, Domenica and myself.

Over the years we have formed friendships through the world of blogging, and have expressed several times how fun it would be if we could cook and bake together.

Almost immediately Linda  suggested we do a cookie exchange through the mail, we all loved the idea and within minutes Linda took charge and sent us all an email with instructions for the first, Inaugural Italian Gals Christmas Cookie Exchange!

Each person was to bake and mail two dozen cookies to three people. The cookies should be the type that ships well, something like pizzelle would be too fragile. Then place them into a tin of some sort and send them either Fedex or U.S. Mail, she even listed the rates for us.

We baked them just a couple of days before we sent them out for optimum freshness and not too long after boxes started arriving at my front door!

 Beautiful boxes wrapped in ribbons with cards.

This tin was from Adri, the cookies are called, Three Nut Fingers, a recipe she adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s book called, Rose’s Christmas Cookies, they are filled with almonds, hazelnuts and pecans and she even added in a little Frangelico, they were heavenly! Here’s Adri’s version.
 The next day I received this tin of crunchy Cranberry-Hazelnut Biscotti, a recipe Domenica adapted from her new and forthcoming book called Ciao Biscotti, which will be released this March, ( you can pre-order now) how lucky were we to be able to taste a recipe from her new book. Wonderful with morning coffee or tea!

 And last but not least Linda’s, Italian Christmas “Brownies” glazed with Lemon Icing. A cookie filled with chocolate and pungent spices, a perfect after dinner treat, it even includes a surprise ingredient that makes the flavor even more intense and delicious.

 My contribution to the cookie exchange was Cucidati, a traditional Italian cookie originating from Sicily that I make every year with family, it’s filled with figs, nuts, dates, orange, raisins and spices along with a little rum or whiskey to top it off.

 They’re a labor of love and can be time consuming to make, so when we do it we do it big, at least 400 or more so that everyone will have a good amount to take home and share. It’s become an annual event at my house where we spend the whole day baking Cucidati from early morning until late afternoon. We start out drinking coffee but end up sipping Dumante ( a pistachio liqueur) before the day is over. It’s a fun day and we look forward to it every year!

 My tables and counters quickly get filled up with these figgy little gems!

 I actually whipped up a fresh batch of cucidati for my Italian Gals cookie exchange two days before I mailed them. I layered them in a box with lots of waxed paper in between and they all arrived safely!

 So you see, you don’t have to live near each other to have a cookie exchange, you can do it through the mail like we did, though you might want to limit the amount of people involved due to shipping costs.

 This was so much fun, and it was the next best thing to us all being in one of our kitchens and baking together!