Wine (Mom) Cookies
Also known as Ciambelline al Vino if you are Italian (and if you’re Italian you probably already know how to cook them, so go make some – now), Wine Mom Cookies aren’t as party-friendly as ye olde Vodka Gummy Bears, but are tastier and a lot more vegan. That’s because in your gummy bears they put red little ants to colour them, that’s why (E 120 anyone?)! Whereas our crunchy and delicious treats are only made with flour, sugar, oil, aniseed and, well, WINE! So turn the oven on and start mixing.
This is what you need for about 20 cookies:
250g plain flour 125ml of white wine* 70ml sunflower seed oil ½ tablespoon of aniseed a pinch of baking soda a drop of apple cider vinegar a pinch of salt*
*you can use any kind of wine really, just beware – red wine will make your cookies turn green (we swear on our Nonnas!) *mysteriously, a pinch of salt makes baked goods taste nice. No, we don’t know why. Yes, our Nonnas do it. Trust them. It’s probably a ritual to banish evil spirits and keep them away from your sweets.
First of all, if you are a dork like we are and get lost in the supermarket spice aisle without finding aniseed or ground star anise, get ready to release your anger in a healthy way. Buy some star anise, put it in a bag and crush it. It’s hammer time!
Do you feel better? That teacher who gave you a C doesn’t seem such a twat anymore? Good. Put the anise in a bowl and pour all the wino over it, and let it steep for at least 10 mins. Meanwhile, you can dance to this tasty tune:
In a bowl, mix together the flour, the baking soda and the pinch of salt, then throw in the sugar and stir in the oil, the wine + anise. Last but not least, add a drop of vinegar. Knead!
Now that the mix is solid and elastic enough, you can start making the cookies: take a bit of dough and roll it into a worm thing, then shape it as the One Ring.
If you like your Ciambelline extra sweet, dip one side in some sugar; if you want to eat sad, ugly cookies, leave them like that.
And they’re ready for the oven: put them in at 180C for about 20-25 minutes. When they’re golden and crispy, they’re done.
Forget waiting until they’re cold, burn your tongue and eat them straightaway! Wine cookies are yummy and relatively guilt-free, so dig in :3 And if you really want to get in the wine mom mood, DIP THEM IN EXTRA WINE!
Ciao for now!
Experimenting with food photography = cooking a s*hitload of cookies! Can’t complain.
