I love simple cookies like these Italian wine biscuits.
Think of biscotti without the fuss of double baking, with so few ingredients you can hardly believe that they will yield such a tasty morsel. One bite and you’ll be transported to Italy – or at least a lovely little restaurant in a Little Italy somewhere in a city that at least feels like Italy during dinner.
Although I had heard of them I’d never made Italian wine biscuits before I chose them for my contribution to this month’s Progressive Eats theme of wine and cheese.
For such a simple cookie, there are many decisions to make: what wine to use, what type of oil, whether to include any other flavorings, what shape to make them in, and how to bake them.
I checked out recipes for these delicacies. The ones I found especially helpful were from the Torciano Italian winery, a Pittsburgh recipe passed down through a local family, and the variations on a Food52 version suggested by commenter named Will Depp.
I decided to use a flavorless oil, a full-bodied chianti, and a pinch of salt, without any fennel or other flavoring. I used a simple method to mix them – combining all the liquids in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another, then pouring the liquids into the dry ingredients.
After mixing the dough (which has a slightly weird red tinge from the Chianti), I formed it into cigar-shaped lengths of about 8-9 inches. I couldn’t decide on a single shape; instead I did a few circles, bowties, figure eights and spirals. Brushing the cookies with beaten egg slightly thinned with water (known as an egg wash) and rolling them partway in sugar gave the biscuits a nice gloss and a bit of a sweet crunch on the outside.
I baked these Italian wine biscuits for 25-30 minutes. The circles and the bowties baked through first, which makes sense because the figure eights and the spirals had thicker centers. Ideally the cookies are cooked to a biscotti-like crunch, so if you make several shapes, take the thickness of the center into account when gauging if they are done. They puff up slightly from the baking powder, retain the red tinge from the wine, and end up crunchy. The taste of the Chianti comes through without being overpowering. They’re scrumptious alone or with fruit, gelato, or zabaglione – or even better, dunked in more Chianti.
Italian Wine Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup full-bodied red wine E.g. Chianti
- 3/4 cup flavorless oil E.g. canola, aovcado, or grapeseed
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch largeof salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup sugar + more for dusting outside
- 1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water
Instructions
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Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
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Mix the wine and oil together and set aside.
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Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and the cup of sugar.
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Add the wine and oil mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them together with a fork until they are well combined into a stiff dough. It is a light red, rather odd color.
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Pinch off about 2 tablespoons of the dough and roll/pull it into a 7-9 inch cigar or pencil shape.
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Form the cookie into a circle, bowtie, figure eight, or spiral. Brush the top with the beaten egg and sprinkle a bit of sugar on part or all of the top. alternatively, roll part of the cookie in sguar, just enough to lightly coat it. Place the cookie on a parchment or silicone mat-lined cookie sheet and repeat with the rest of the dough.
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Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom and slightly hard to the touch.
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Let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. This month’s theme is Boozy Cooking and is hosted by Jenni Fields, who blogs at Pastry Chef Online. For our Wine and Cheese dinner, we all created recipes using wine or cheese or both.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.
We have a core group of 12 bloggers, but we will always need substitutes and if there is enough interest would consider additional groups. To see our upcoming themes and how you can participate, please check out the schedule at Creative Culinary or contact Barb for more information.
Wine and Cheese
Savories
- Port Wine Cheese Ball from Pastry Chef Online
- Cheese Fondue Pasta Ragout (Gluten-Free) from The Heritage Cook
- Apricot Riesling Mustard from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
- Chicken Scallopini from Stetted
- Chicken with Mushrooms in White Wine Sauce from Never Enough Thyme
Sweets
- Red Wine Jelly from Creative Culinary
- Italian Wine Biscuits from Mother Would Know
- Moscato Zabaglione with Strawberries from The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Pears Poached in Wine with Lemon Mascarpone from SpiceRoots
- Mascarpone Cheesecake from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Bonus Beverage
- Sarasota Lemonade from Miss in the Kitchen
Liz says
I love the sound of these grown up cookies! Perfect with my cup of tea—but I wouldn’t refuse a scoop of gelato on the side 🙂
Laura says
Haha Liz – a woman after my own heart:) #gelatoplease
susan // the wimpy vegetarian says
I’m from Pittsburgh and never had these!!! I’m feeling a little deprived. I would love them – they look so moist too – likely from the oil? GREAT recipe for our fun theme this month!
Laura says
Susan, That’s funny that you never had them because one of the recipes I referred to was from Pittsburgh.
Jenni says
Who knew there’d be so many variations for such a simple cookie. Looks like you hit on the perfect formula, Laura! xo
Laura says
Thanks Jenni – I think the bowties are my favorites – so cute.
Ansh says
Wine is bread/ biscuits! I have never had that before! Once again you have an unusual and great recipe to share. I learn so much every time.
Laura says
Ansh – You’re too sweet! Yes, they are unusual and wonderfully easy to make too.
pam says
What a great idea!
Laura says
Thanks Pam. They’re quite tasty too!
Megan | Stetted says
What creative cookies! I’m always amazed to learn about foods that are new to me – it seems like at some point I would have seen it all, but I’m so glad I haven’t!
Laura says
Megan, That’s the great thing about Progressive Eats – so many recipes I never knew about but that are traditional to a group or culture I don’t know enough about. Hard to believe how many variations there can be for something like cookies:)
Heather | All Roads Lead to the Kitchen says
I’ve made both cookies and bread from red wine and just love the flavor and hue they take on, I know I have to give theses tempting biscuits a try next, they sound fantastic!
Laura says
Heather – Red wine in bread – wow! That sounds amazing. Hope you try these cookie/biscuits. They are quite delicious and a nice change from biscotti for dipping.
Janice Cappelli says
I always bake the wine biscuits for holidays. My family loves them. Can I bake in advance and place in a covered ziplock container?
Laura says
Janice, I think that should work, though if you’re baking them more than a day or two in advance, I would freeze them and defrost the day you’re serving them.
rebecca says
I am a wine rep and always looking for ways to use up all my leftovers at the end of the week….does the wine need to be fresh? if it’s a few days old and maybe past it’s prime…will it taste okay? also is it safe to assume that the alcohol gets baked out? are they kid friendly? Thanks! Trying these tonight!
Laura says
I’m no wine expert Rebecca, but I would think that as long as the wine is still drinkable, it’s fine to use. (Not sure what you’d define as “fresh”, but I’d definitely use wine that still tasted OK. Wine that tastes off or vinegary will impart that flavor to the cookies.) I researched your questions about whether the alcohol gets baked out of the cookies. The best answer I can find is that some, but not all of the alcohol bakes off. So you can decide if that makes them kid-friendly or not.
Ccrager says
What do you think the cal count is on this meal
Laura says
Don’t know the calorie count – it’s not a meal. How many calories depends on how many of them you eat:)
Rene Reed says
I can’t wait to try this recipe. We ate these cookie/biscuits like candy while on the Amalfi coast in May. Thanks for including multiple oils to use, too!!
Laura says
I hope they bring back memories of your Amalfi coast vacation. Enjoy!
Judy Slatniske says
What is the best kind of wine to use for the cookie……red or white?
Thank you
Laura says
I used red but from my research I think you can use either.
Cleeo2 says
Dunked in hot coffee! Only way for me. 👍
Laura says
Haha – I do love them as “dunkers” too. I’m partial to espresso or strong tea, but any hot drink will do in a pinch.
Sandy says
I made the wine biscuits exactly as recipe called for. Yum! I haven’t made wine biscuits in many years so decided to give these a try & super easy & excellent. I never sprinkled sugar on ones I used to make but I liked the sweet topping. If you have someone that doesn’t care for sugar you could do 1/2 with sugar sprinkle on top & half without. Be good either way.
Laura says
So glad you enjoyed them.