Italian bow-tie cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar are worth the effort. Photo by Monica Jones
I used to help my first-generation Italian-American mother make these bow-tie cookies every Christmas when I was a kid. She made me promise I would continue the tradition after she died, and I’ve been keeping that promise for nine years. Whenever I think about taking a year off, her angry ghost yells at me with her hands until I do the right thing.
My mother’s original recipe, handed down by my grandmother, was lost shortly before mom died, so I searched online until I found this recipe. The cookies taste the same to me. My grandmother’s recipe was rubbish anyway — only a list of ingredients like “a glass of white wine,” with no indication how big the glass should be.
Fortunately, most of the recipes for these Italian cookies — and their Polish counterparts — are interchangeable.
Notes
I use a fluted pastry wheel to give the cookies a nice decorative edge. I also use the pastry wheel to create the bow-tie shape by cutting small slits in the strips of dough and gently flipping one edge of the dough through the slit. If you don’t want to buy a new kitchen gadget, you can use a small knife, or save time by pinching the dough in the middle.
Roll the dough with a rolling pin or a pasta roller. The pasta roller will take more time but will be easier on your arms and back.
These cookies are best if the dough is rolled paper thin before cutting. Roll out a small piece so you can test how thin you can go before they start falling apart in the shaping process. Add more flour to your surface if they stick. If you make them too thick, my grandmother will crawl out of her grave to slap you upside the head and make you do it over.
While you’re rolling and cutting pieces of dough, cover the rest with a damp towel to keep it from drying out. If the dough becomes too brittle to shape, spray it with a bit of water. Don’t overdo it. If it’s too sticky and wet, sprinkle it with flour until you can work with it again. It’s fine if the cookies dry out after you’ve shaped them.
If you need to pause your project, wrap the dough in a soaking wet towel until you can come back to it. You might need to sprinkle it with flour when you return if it’s too sticky. I haven’t tested this beyond a few hours, so I recommend you finish the cookies in a single day.
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