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Ossi dei morti
Bone-shaped almond biscuits
Hard bone-shaped almond biscuits for All Souls' Day
Italian families remember their dead on 2 November, and in Lombardy, Sicily and much of the country in between, the pastry shops fill with 'bones of the dead'. Shapes and recipes vary from town to town; this is the northern style, a lean dough of egg white, sugar, flour and toasted chopped almonds, scented with cinnamon, clove and lemon and rolled into knobbly bone shapes. They bake very hard and crunchy, made for dunking in coffee, milk or a sweet vin santo-style wine, and they keep for weeks. Sicilian children traditionally find them in a basket left by the departed, together with fruit made of marzipan. Chef's tip: let the shaped bones dry for half an hour before baking, which gives them their pale crust; skipping the rest is the common slip, and the bones spread into flat blobs.
- Total time
- 72 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the biscuits
- 3 ½ oz whole almondsskin on
- 7 oz plain flour
- 7 oz caster sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 tsp lemon zest
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Toast 3 ½ oz whole almonds in a dry pan over medium heat for 4–5 minutes, shaking, until fragrant. Cool, then chop roughly into pieces about the size of a grain of rice.
5 minStep 2: Mix 7 oz plain flour, 7 oz caster sugar, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1 pinch ground cloves and 1 tsp lemon zest in a bowl and stir in the almonds.
Step 3: Add 2 egg whites and work with a spoon, then your hands, into a stiff, slightly sticky dough. If it is too dry to come together, add a teaspoon of water.
Step 4: With floured hands, roll pieces the size of a walnut into 8–9 cm fingers and pinch both ends into knobs, so each looks like a little bone.
Step 5: Set them on a tray lined with baking paper, 3 cm apart, and leave uncovered for 30 minutes (or overnight) until the surface feels dry.
30 minStep 6: Heat the oven to 350°F (300°F fan).
Step 7: Bake for 20–22 minutes, until pale golden with a slightly darker base; they will still feel a little soft when hot.
22 minStep 8: Cool completely on a rack, where they turn rock-hard. Store in a tin for up to a month.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 190 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 33 g
- Fat
- 5 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does ossi dei morti take?
- About 72 minutes in total: 50 minutes to prepare and 22 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of caster sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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