Sweet Fava Beans, or Fave Dolci: There are many versions of the Bones of the Dead, cookies Italians make for the Day of the Dead, November 2. This is Roman, and employs almonds.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/4 pound (100 g) shelled almonds
- 1/4 pound (100 g) sugar
- Flour
- Unsalted butter
- An egg
- The grated zest of half a lemon
Preparation:
Begin with two bowls, one containing 1/4 pound of shelled almonds, and the other 1/2 cup sugar. Grind some of the almonds, with their skins, and some of the sugar. Once you've ground the mixture, put it through a moderately fine strainer, collecting the flour on a sheet of wax paper, and return the unground almond bits to the mortar. Add some fresh almonds, a little more sugar, and repeat the process; be careful not to use too much sugar in the beginning, lest you find yourselves grinding just almonds at the end, because the pressure of the pestle against them could squeeze out their oil.
Once you have your almond flour, put it on your work surface and add to it two large, heaping tablespoons of flour (2/3 cup, 65 g) , 2 teaspoons of powdered cinnamon, a walnut-sized chunk of unsalted butter, a whole egg, and the grated zest of a half a lemon. You'll think that these ingredients will never combine, but with patient kneading you will obtain a uniform dough. Don't add water because it won't be necessary.
Grease a cookie pan, flour it, up end it, and tap it to shake excess free. Lightly flour your hands and roll the dough between them to obtain a snake and cut it onto pieces the size of large cherries. Flatten them and shape them into ovals that roughly resemble fava beans, and arrange them on the sheet, leaving a little space for them to expand. Bake the beans in a moderate oven (360 F, 180 C) for about 20 minutes, by which time they will be nicely browned.
Remove them carefully to your work surface to cool, and seal them up in a tin so they retain their crunchiness.
Note: when they emerge from the oven they'll be soft, and only becoming crunchy when they've cooled. This recipe will yield about 50, or a half pound in weight.
Once you have your almond flour, put it on your work surface and add to it two large, heaping tablespoons of flour (2/3 cup, 65 g) , 2 teaspoons of powdered cinnamon, a walnut-sized chunk of unsalted butter, a whole egg, and the grated zest of a half a lemon. You'll think that these ingredients will never combine, but with patient kneading you will obtain a uniform dough. Don't add water because it won't be necessary.
Grease a cookie pan, flour it, up end it, and tap it to shake excess free. Lightly flour your hands and roll the dough between them to obtain a snake and cut it onto pieces the size of large cherries. Flatten them and shape them into ovals that roughly resemble fava beans, and arrange them on the sheet, leaving a little space for them to expand. Bake the beans in a moderate oven (360 F, 180 C) for about 20 minutes, by which time they will be nicely browned.
Remove them carefully to your work surface to cool, and seal them up in a tin so they retain their crunchiness.
Note: when they emerge from the oven they'll be soft, and only becoming crunchy when they've cooled. This recipe will yield about 50, or a half pound in weight.
