After college, I convinced my best friend (and my current food photographer, Andy Brumbaugh) to move to Vermont from his hometown of Jamestown, N.Y. He lived with my parents for a while, and occasionally shared his Italian family's recipes with us, especially around the holidays.
I still remember the first time I tried his little chocolate cookies, flavored with cloves and other warming spices. Andy's recipe originally incorporated a chocolate cake mix. Through the years, he has been working on coming up with a good from-scratch recipe. When I told him that I wanted to make them for this column, he was excited to get my input.
A good quality cocoa is key to making chocolate cookies with a robust flavor. I suggest Hershey's Special Dark. I do not recommend Dutch processed cocoa, as that has been treated with an alkalizing agent to give it a milder taste. I also added a little strong coffee to the milk in the recipe, which helps to boost the chocolate flavor.
Andy tells me that these cookies are frequently found at Italian family gatherings and holiday celebrations, and sometimes share a plate with anise cookies. The dark and light varieties, with two very different flavor profiles, pair well.
The chocolate spice cookies, sometimes called Totos, can be made with nuts, raisins or chocolate chips. Andy's family prefers them without chunks — just a little dense cookie with a lightly sweet glaze — so that's how I made them. The cookie dough is almost like bread dough — very dense and easy to work with.
For the anise cookies, I used crushed anise seeds, which can be found at most grocery stores. The dough for these cookies is much different than the chocolate cookie dough — sticky and thinner.
I used the same vanilla glaze for both varieties, and topped the anise cookies with red sugar to make them look festive. Rainbow sprinkles would also be fun.
Both of these cookies can be made ahead of time and frozen, unglazed, for up to two months. They'll bring a little taste of Italy to your holiday cookie plate.
Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies (Makes about 80 cookies)
Anise Seed Cookies (Makes about 30 cookies)
Vanilla Glaze
Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies
Anise Seed Cookies
Vanilla Glaze
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