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Writer's pictureMangia McCann

Forti: Venetian Spiced Cookies

2022 Giro d’Italia - Stage 21: Verona time trial.


This is it! The final day of the Giro and the final daily offering of my 2022 culinary ridealong….for this race/month, at least. There will be the Tour de France in July and then the Vuelta España in August, so be sure to come back for that! But, that’s not the only news of the day. Yesterday, towards the very end of the stage, Jai Hindley broke the spirit of Richard Carapaz, stealing the Maglia Rosa with just a time trial left in the race, basically insurmountable for Carapaz to reclaim...and why I never perform research on a champion’s meal until the last few days of a race.


Today’s offering is a little Venetian (as in Veneto region, not Venice!) spiced biscuit called forti. It has the flavor of chocolate and gingerbread and as the name implies, becomes hard as they cool and age. They are a perfect dunker for your morning cappuccino! I have edited the recipe below slightly because the instructions tell you to cut the cookie a little too thick and also the egg white/almond topping was too thick as well. But, these are delicious and go great with coffee.

Forti adapted from The Italian Regional Cookbook, Valentina Harris

  • 1 egg + 2 egg whites

  • ⅔ cup sugar

  • 2 tbsp butter + more for greasing (at room temperature)

  • ⅓ cup molasses

  • 1 cup of almonds divided

  • 3 tbsp Italian dessert wine (e.g. vin santo)

  • ¼ cup cocoa powder

  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon

  • ½ tsp ground cloves

  • ¼ tsp ground ginger

  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper

  • ½ tsp salt

  • ½ tbsp warm milk

  • ~2 cups AP flour

  • 1 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

  • White sugar sprinkles

In the bowl of a stand mixer, briefly whisk the whole egg. Add in the sugar, 2 tbsp butter, and molasses and beat at high speed until combined.


Grind half of the almonds in a food processor into fine crumbs. Stir the crumbs into the molasses mixture. Add in the wine, all of the spices, and the milk, and stir to combine.


Fold in 1.5 cups of flour. When thoroughly combined, add more flour as needed. You want a thick mixture that will stay together if you knead it. When the dough is done. Place it onto parchment paper and shape into a loaf. Use the paper to form it into a ~2” log. Place the wrapped dough into the fridge and leave overnight.


In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease the baking sheets. Unwrap the dough and cut into ¼” thick slices. Using your thumb, poke holes into the middle of the cookies and discard the pieces you poked out.


Grind the remaining ½ cup of almonds with the confectioner’s sugar in a good processor. In a clean bowl, hand whisk together the 2 egg whites until foamy and slightly fluffy. Stir in some of the almond mixture. You want the whites to still be a little runny, not a thick paste. Add in more of the almonds if necessary.


Using a pastry brush, apply the egg white mixture over the cookie dough rounds. Decorate the cookies with the sugar sprinkles. Divide the cookies among the prepared baking sheets and bake for about 16 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through.


Allow the cookies to cool for a minute on the baking sheets, then move to cooling racks. Serve with cappuccino or coffee.

______________________________ Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.


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