Welcome to the 3^rd Annual Italian Christmas Cookies class!

A platter of beautiful homemade cookies is one of the highlights of the holidays; even better if they are Italian cookies. Step inside a pasticceria in any Italian town, or an Italian bakery anywhere else, and you will be met with a near-endless selection of cookies: butter cookies and nut cookies, fruit-filled and rolled, chocolate-dipped, spiced, and sandwiched.

In past years we’ve made Baci di Dama, Ricciarelli, and Giuggiulena (sesame candy). This year, we’re making two types of cookies and Panforte di Siena, the lovely, dense, spiced confection that graces holiday tables all over Tuscany (and beyond).

Here’s what on the baking menu this year:

• Chocolate Amaretti: Delicately crispy on the outside, with a tender, chewy interior, this variation on traditional amaretti are my new favorites. With their sugar-dusted tops and crackled surface, they are as pretty as they are delicious, and look beautiful on a holiday cookie plate.

• Occhi di Bue: Think of these as Italian jam sandwich cookies—two rich, butter cookies with a layer of your best jam in between. They look easy to make but getting the correct ratio of flour-sugar-butter and handling this rich dough can be a challenge. We’ve got it just right. Best of all, these cookies seem to get better over time, so they keep well.

• Panforte di Siena: This dense, spiced fruit and nut “cake” is a specialty of Siena, Tuscany, and dates to the Medieval era. It lasts for weeks and gets better as it ages (like all good things!).

All classes take place on Zoom. Spaces is limited to 12 students so that everyone can receive the individual instruction necessary to master specific techniques. You will receive the recipes as well as a list of ingredients and equipment needed a week before class. The day before, you will receive an email with a link to the class on Zoom.

Join me for this cookie celebration!