Last week I wrote a post in which I introduced some Useful Household Vocabulary. In today’s recipe we’ll see a practical application of that vocabulary, and cook something delicious at the same time!

I mostaccioli are a type of biscuits traditionally made during advent, the period from the 8th of December, Festa dell’Immacolata, up until Christmas day. These delicious biscuits are traditionally from the Campania region, and were originally made using mosto (must), from which they take their name. You can find variations in the name mostaccioli in many other regions of Italy, e.g.: mustaccioli, mostazzoli, etc., but the recipes tend to change from region to region or town to town, and often they have virtually nothing in common with Mostaccioli Napoletani.

I tasted i mostaccioli napoletani for the first time last December, when our friend Michele gave some to us. They were made by his wife Cinzia, una napoletana verace (a real Neapolitan), according to her mother’s recipe. So, andiamo a cucinare i mostaccioli napoletani tradizionali (let’s go and cook the traditional Neapolitan mostaccioli):

Procedimento = Preparation:

Setacciate (sieve) the flour into a big mixing bowl. Aggiungete (add) the sugar, grated rind, cocoa, and spices. Mischiate (mix) everything together and then make a well in the centre. Scaldate (heat) the water to a lukewarm temperature and dissolvete (dissolve) the bicarbonate into it. Add the lukewarm water to the flour mixture, and mix. Lavorate la pasta (knead the dough) until it’s firm but pliable (you may need to add a little more water)

Dividete (divide) the dough in two. Take one of the two halves, and with a rolling pin stendete (roll out) the dough to a thickness of 1 cm. With the help of a biscuit cutter or knife tagliate (cut) the dough into diamonds, roughly 5 cm in size. Repeat with the rest of the dough. You should be able to make about 35 biscuits (if you only have 10 you’ve made gigantic mostaccioli!)

Preriscaldate il forno (preheat the oven) to 180°C (350°F). Foderate una teglia (line a baking tray) with greaseproof paper. Sistemate (arrange) the mostaccioli on the prepared baking tray, infornateli (put them in the oven), and cuoceteli (bake them) for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime roughly spezzettate (chop) the chocolate, put it in a bowl, and put the bowl on the top of a saucepan containing boiling water in order to fondere (melt) the chocolate. Quando i biscotti sono cotti (when the biscuits are cooked), sfornateli (take them out of the oven). Using a fork or a pair of kitchen pincers immergete (dip) the mostaccioli one at the time in the melted chocolate in order to coat them, and then place them on some greaseproof paper until they are completely dry.

When the mostaccioli are ready, pack them in an airtight container, and send them to Serena and Geoff, C/O Transparent Language, Boston.

Mostaccioli will keep for two weeks if kept in a sealed container, but as they’re troppo buoni (really good) I doubt that they’ll last more than a couple of days.

Ora che abbiamo finito di cucinare, puliamo il piano della cucina e rimettiamo tutto a posto! (now that we’ve finished cooking, let’s clean the work surface and put everything back to its place!)