Sfratti di Pitigliano
Sfratti are traditional walnut and honey cookies from Pitigliano, a small tufa-carved town just south of Montepulciano in the Maremma region of Tuscany. From the XVI century it has been home of a thriving Jewish community. These cookies were originally created for Rosh Hashanah celebrations but they are available all year long.
400 g of flour 0
200 g of sugar
150 ml of dry white wine
40 ml of extra virgin olive oil
340 g of honey
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
2 cloves minced and reduced to powder
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper powder
Grated nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange
450 g of walnuts chopped in small pieces
For the dough: (that will cover the stuffing of nuts and honey) Pour the flour and sugar on a stone counter and gradually add the white wine and oil until it forms a consistent and homogeneous dough. Knead for 5 minutes, then wrap it in foil and let it rest in the fridge.
2. For the filling: Pour the honey into a saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 3 minutes, then add the spices, orange peel and chopped walnuts and stir at medium low heat for 5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and continue stirring until you can easily handle the filling.Divide the filling into 6 equal parts and with the help of very little flour form long and narrow sticks. 3. Take out the dough from outside the fridge, divide it into 6 equal parts and with the help of a rolling pin and very little flour roll out to form strips that can wrap the sticks of walnuts and honey.4. Wrap each stick with the strip of dough, close the ends well and roll it until sealed.5. Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper with the closure on the bottom.6. Heat the oven to 190 ° C and cook the Sfratti for about 20 minutes, until they just begin to color.7. Wrap them in tinfoil and wait until they are completely cold to cut them into slices.8. Cut them only before serving them, perhaps with a glass of Vinsanto or sweet wine.
They can be stored for several weeks and are even better after few days.
