A typical Italian breakfast consists of these simple cookies, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, dunked in warm milk with or without coffee.
Italian Breakfast Cookies are very basic, simple cookies that are perfect with your morning coffee or for kids, with warm milk. These Italian dunking cookies are lightly flavored with vanilla and adding sprinkles is my mother's way to get my kids to eat an otherwise plain cookie.
In fact, my mother often omits the vanilla when she makes them for herself, thus making them exactly the way they did in Italy. 'Cause obviously they did not have access to vanilla back when she was a child.
I'll share a little secret with you. Because of this, I've always called these cookies "the cookies that don't taste of anything"! However, I do enjoy them with the vanilla added.
Origin of these dry cookies:
This recipe is from Sicily and these Italian biscuits are made exactly the way my mother's family made them back then with a couple of exceptions. The aforementioned vanilla was added to the recipe here in Canada. The other ingredient which was replaced is ammonia.
Ammonia was traditionally used to bake Italian Breakfast Cookies
As a child, I recall the faint aroma of ammonia in the air when my mother baked these cookies. I never questioned it until yesterday when my mother brought it up. We debated about making them in the traditional way with ammonia. But since she didn't have any we stuck to baking powder.
UPDATE! I was able to finally test this cookie recipe with ammonia and loved the results, check that out here!
Ammonia was used as a leavening agent for baking. This was before before baking powder came along. So of course, this is what they used in Sicily when my mother was a child.
If you wish to use ammonia instead of baking powder, simply replace with the same amount. In this recipe that would be 3 tsps of baker's ammonia.
What does a typical Italian breakfast consist of?
Nowadays, the typical breakfast in Italy consists of a cornetto, which is similar to our croissants. They are filled with pastry cream, chocolate, or if you're in Sicily, pistachio cream. Another popular breakfast choice in Sicily, and my personal favorite when I'm there is the Sicilian Brioche!
However, this was not the breakfast of my parents' or grandparents' generation. They typically ate these Italian breakfast cookies broken in pieces in a bowl or mug with hot milk and coffee poured over them. This is still what my mother often eats for breakfast.
When homemade cookies were not available, store bought "Village" cookies were substituted. I can still picture my father sitting at the kitchen table with a small pile of these cookies sitting on a napkin alongside his cup of milk and coffee!
Do you recall pane cu latti?
But this was not the only breakfast choice. There was another common one that many of you may be familiar with: pane cu latti as we call it, or bread with milk. Day old bread with hot milk poured over it in order to soften it.
At my parents' house we did not make this with day old bread. Instead, we used pane duru or hard bread. This is what we call what is commonly referred to as friselle. These are those flat, often round pieces of bread that are crisp and served with tomatoes, oregano and a drizzle of olive oil. One of my favorite lunches!
My mother made friselle or pane duru with her homemade bread. She cut the bread in half lengthwise and baked it once again, as you would for biscotti, until it was crisp. In fact, I have some in my cupboard right now. Here it is!
When soaked with hot milk this bread does not become as soggy as fresh bread. I sometimes enjoyed this for breakfast as a child. Don't knock it until you've tried it! I wonder how my kids would react if I made this for breakfast one day?
You can imagine, back then, our grandparents enjoying a bowl of this before setting off for a day of work in the fields. Somehow, I can't imagine eating this now before a day at work sitting at a desk in front of a computer. Times have certainly changed!
Step by Step Instructions:
A simple cookie calls for a simple recipe! All the ingredients are mixed together in 1 bowl to form a firm, but sticky dough.
To shape:
Have a wood cutting board ready along with a small bowl with some vegetable oil in it. Spoon about a tablespoon full of dough onto a lightly oiled wood board. Dab a bit of oil on your fingers to prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers. Do not over oil the dough nor the board or the dough will slide instead of roll.
Roll into a rope about 1 cm thick. Connect both ends together and twist twice before placing on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Here's a cool video of my mother rolling the dough and shaping the cookies!
Top with sprinkles, if desired, and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned underneath.
Tips:
- Do not add too much oil to your wood board or fingers when shaping the cookies. Otherwise the dough will slip instead of roll!
Variations and Substitutions
- The vanilla may be replaced with lemon zest for a different flavor.
- Substitute equal amounts of baker's ammonia for the baking powder.
Storage
- Let cool completely before storing.
- Italian Breakfast Cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Since they are dry cookies, they keep well for weeks.
- Alternately, freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
Now that we've described in detail what constitutes a typical Italian breakfast, I'm curious, which would you choose? If you opt for these cookies, let me know by tagging me with @mangiabedda or #mangiabedda on Facebook or Instagram. Don't forget to share on Pinterest as well! Buon appetito!
Here are a few other Italian cookie recipes for you to try out!
- Classic Almond Biscotti with Variations
- Easy Pignoli Cookies
- Cuccidati - Sicilian Fig Cookies
- Biscotti di San Martino
- Soft and Chewy Lemon Almond Cookies
- 3-Ingredient Hazelnut Cookies
- Chewy Amaretti (Italian Almond Cookies)
- Italian Orange Juice Cookies
- Tetù (Sicilian Chocolate Spice Cookies)
- Italian Lemon Glazed Cookies
- Pistachio Amaretti
- Pizzelle Cookies
- Chocolate Espresso Amaretti
- Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies
- Biscotti Regina
- Sheet Pan Almond Biscotti
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare 2 baking sheets covered in parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar and oil. Mix well.
- Add the vanilla and stir. Add the flour and baking powder and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is fully incorporated.
- The dough will be firm but sticky.
- Prepare a small bowl with a spoonful or two of vegetable oil. Lightly grease the surface of a wood cutting board.
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon full of dough onto the board. You may lightly grease the tips of your fingers to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
- Using the palms of your hands, roll the dough into a rope of about 1 cm thickness. Connect both ends and twist twice. Place on the baking sheet.
- Top with sprinkles, if desired. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned underneath.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before storing.
Notes
- The vanilla may be replaced with lemon zest for a different flavor.
- Be sure not to add too much oil to your wood board or fingers when shaping the cookies. Otherwise the dough will slip instead of roll!
- Italian Breakfast Cookies can be stored at room temperature in a tightly sealed container.
- Alternately, freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
Joyce
How much ammonia do I use. I have a recipe but the dough always turns out runny. I calls for a cup of each milk and oil.
Any suggestions. I have thought of cutting back on amounts
Nadia
Hi Joyce, you can use equal amounts of ammonia as baking powder for baking. I did use ammonia instead of baking powder when I used this recipe to make Easter cookies with eggs (also on my blog) and they turned out just fine. You can check that out here: https://www.mangiabedda.com/sicilian-easter-cookies-with-eggs/. Enjoy!
Lisa
just like my Italian Grandmother used to make!
Nadia
Hi Lisa, yes exactly! My mom makes these all the time to dunk in her milk in the morning!
Kathy
Hi Nadia!
Love your blog and your recipes! Thanks for sharing them! My grandma was Scilian. She made those fig cookies without the fancy stuff. We called her, Mama Nini
I have no clue why we called her that. She didn't like her neighbors, but she took good care of her 3 grand kids. She was very expressive. Her maiden name was Lena Territo. She was the youngest growing up. She was born in Morgan City Louisiana. She had relatives in New York. I never met any of her relatives. I think she had a neice named Jenny. I don't think her relatives liked her. I was just a kid. I use to hear her talk about her sister's and relatives with my grandpa. My grandpa was from Oslo, Norway. My grandma use to make this fish bread. I can't spell it. I will type in the way it sounds, Feng-ju-nie. It had anchovies, olive oil, parmesagn cheese. My mom loved it. Being a kid, I would take out the pieces of anchovies. It was good! Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you know the actual name of it? Every Christmas my mom would make date bars, powdered pecan sandies, and lemon bars. My sister would make double batches of chocolate chip cookies and decorated sugar cookies. Then we would all pile up in the car and drive to Port Arthur to this place that sold imported cheeses, wine, and huge black Greek olives. It was called the Captain's Warf. My mom would have a huge box of assorted chocolates. We would have company that night. We would have a huge tray of all of those cookies, cheese, and olives. Then we ended up opening up all of our presents. We each got 10 presents from our grandma and grandpa. The presents were wrapped so beautifully. They had beautiful glittered butterflies on some of the backages. It was a site to see. We couldn't wait to open the presents. My my and dad sat on the sofa, our company were in chairs watching us spread paper all over the place. Even our cat got in on the action. She would attack the paper as if they were her prey. The next day we had more toys under the tree. They were from Santa. We got dressed and we all went to our Grandma's house. She had a cooked ham with cherries and pineapple slices, sweet potato casserole, and other stuff. We later munched on her fig cakes/ cookies. You could taste the bitter orange flavor mixed with the sweet figs and raisins. Yes, life was good when you had an Italian/ Scilian grandma!!! Dear Lord, how I miss them dearly!! We lost our dear mom in 2019. I was blessed to be able to live with her all of my life till 2019. How my heart aches so much. I know I will see them again. Believe it or not, my husband dreams about my mom being a beautiful angel. He has conversations with her in his dreams. She tells him everything is going to be alright and to trust the Lord with all of our hearts. Well, I hope you enjoyed my story. It's all true. I have been wondering what do angels in heaven do to have fun? Do they get to have fun? Do they see their children while they sleep and caresses their face or hair? Just questions I may never know. I do know one thing...My heart aches and I miss them SOOOO MUCH! 😢
Nadia
Hello Kathy, thanks for sharing your precious family memories with me. Food related memories are without a doubt the best. With regards to the 'fish bread' you are referring to, do you mean sfinci which is leavened, fluffy fried dough to which you can add anchovies? I have a recipe for sfinci on my blog but without the anchovies. My children and I are not crazy about them! Check it out and let me know if this is what you are referring to. Happy New Year and all the best to you and your family!
Anna Bucciarelli
Nadia, I think you may be right, that Kathy may be referring to sfinci. As a kid I was not fond of these but as I grew I appreciated them enough but was never crazy about them. I actually preferred simple zepoli, plain, no additives, not even raisons. I hope Kathy will look for your recipe and it will refresh what she remembers, encourage her to try them. That is the beautiful thing about your blog here Nadia, your sharing encourages us all to try what many of us grew up with, you refresh our memories, bringing joy to us in this otherwise devastating year just past. Here's to prayers for a better 2121 for us all.
Nadia
Hi again Anna, her description sounds like she is referring to sfinci but with anchovies in them. Like you, I prefer the plain ones or the variation my mom created stuffed with ham and ricotta. Those are amazing! Hopefully she'll get a chance to look at them and she will remember. Other than the long rising time, which is inactive time, they are really easy to make. Thank you as always Anna for the kind and encouraging words. They mean a lot to me and I look forward to hearing from you! Stay well!
Anna Bucciarelli
Kathy, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your story, which reminds me very much about how I grew up. It is sad that the old folks are not gone and we miss them but, then, I am now one of the old folks at 84. I have many happy memories of aunts, uncles, cousins all congregating in our house not only on holidays but on Sundays too. It was a marathon of eating and dishwashing but such joy. Like you, there seems to be a hole in my heart as most are all gone and I have only 1 sister left our of the six of us (1 brother, 5 girls), and she is now 90, recently lost her husband to Cophid, lives in New Jersey, I live in Massachusetts, so we don't get to see each other as often as we would like. Anyway just want you to know I enjoyed reading what you wrote and wish you a very happy new year. Hopefully it will be healthier for everyone.
Nadia
Hi Anna, I am so enjoying how this blog is bringing people together who have much in common. Indeed, those days of congregating together with everyone are a thing of the past. But like you, I have wonderful memories of these large family gatherings!
Angela Di Fatta
What your grandma made is sfinciuni. It’s a thick kind of pizza with anchovies on top, parmigiano or pecorino/romano and some tomatoes cut up. Very similar to bread but made in a square pan.
Emma
My mom always made With ammonia and no sprinkles. Respectfully, croissants and cornetti are not the same. From Treviso, that might be the difference.
Nadia
Hello Emma, my mom doesn't always add the sprinkles either. She did this as a way to encourage my daughter to eat these cookies! I agree with you croissants and cornetti are not the same, I mentioned in my post they are similar as a way to explain to readers what they are. They are similarly shaped but my kids agree they are definitely not the same as the buttery croissants we enjoy at home. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Carmelo D'Abico
Hi Nadia
My mother used make the S biscuit with roasted crushed almonds, flour , starch etc. Are you aware of this recipe as i am trying to extract this one in particular.
Kind regards
Carmelo
Nadia
Hello Carmelo, Unfortunately S biscuits are not one of the cookies that my mother makes. The cookie recipes on my website that have almonds in them are biscotti, including easy sheet pan biscotti, and amaretti that contain almond flour. I'm sorry I could not be of help!
Paula
Thanks for great instructions. Better than how Italian grannies go ‘all occhio’
Nadia
You're welcome Paula! I'm determined to get all the correct amounts of ingredients down so I can share these recipes with everyone!
Frank
A blast from the past! My grandmother made cookies just like these, except she generally added a bit of anisette to the dough. We called them "Nana's cookies" although now that we're older I realize she didn't actually invent them. 😂
mangiabedda@gmail.com
Hi Frank, my mom still makes these traditional cookies from time to time! Since they are quite plain they can be endlessly modified by adding lemon zest or liqueurs such as anisette as you mentioned. Who knows who invented them but we know that each nonna has her own version! Thanks for your comment!
Anna Bucciarelli
Nadia, these cookies, the exact recipe you give, were a staple in our house as I grew up. Only a Christmas time would mama drizzle a light sugar/lemon glaze over them and add sprinkles. I make them all the time, they sit in a glass canister on my counter but don't last long since my children, now my grand children, go through them like crazy. I love your stories, appreciate the research you give, and don't know if I like them as much as your recipes. Thank you so much for keeping our heritage alive.
mangiabedda@gmail.com
Hi Anna, yes these are definitely a staple in most Italian homes. What’s nice about this recipe is that it’s so simple so you can modify it in so many ways. Thanks again Anna, as usual, I appreciate your kind feedback and support!
Willie Mack
I look forward to making these, but 1 Tbs. doesn’t sound like much. Do they rise this much?
mangiabedda@gmail.com
Hi Willie, are you referring to 1 tbsp of dough? The dough is rolled into a 1cm rope before twisted and they actually puff up this much with 3 tsp baking powder!
nadia
! remember these cookies as a kid! brings back so many memories! I think I might just have to make a batch
mangiabedda@gmail.com
Cool! Did your family add sprinkles to them as well?