Wine Cookies

Wine Cookies

History: This is a coveted recipe made by my mother. It is made by many of the Italian ladies in my home town. Nobody knows who originated this recipe. I have been hesitant to post this, but today my sister-in-law and I made these to try to keep the tradition alive. My mother made these for Christmas every year. This recipe is dedicated to my wonderful mother who gave more cookies away than she ever ate. We love you mom and miss you.

Update: 2013 - I am posting pictures of this wine cookie making event that my daughters and I tried to recreate in December 2012.  We learned that this was a lot harder than we remembered.  God Bless my mother who did this by herself for years.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups burgundy dry wine
• 3 2/3 cups oil (We like corn oil in the dough and to fry them with too. My mom said the old timey Italian women used olive oil.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 5 pounds flour sifted

Directions:

1. Warm oil and wine.
2. After the oil and wine are warm, add sugar and salt.
3. Mix well, and let cool before you add it to the flour.
4. Place flour and baking powder into a large bowl, and make a well in the middle of the flour.
5. Pour the beaten eggs into the well in the center. Add the wine and oil mixture in with the eggs.
6. Gently pull down the flour and mix all the ingredients together until the dough is soft. Dough must be mixed thoroughly.
7. Once the dough is mixed place to the side with a cover of plastic wrap or the lid to the bowl.
8. Let rest appproximately 10 minutes.
9. After the dough has rested, pinch off a walnut size ball. Roll it across something that is ridged. Mom uses an old potato slicer with ridges. In the old days they would use a washboard. There should be a small indention where your fingers were so the dough will cook properly.
10. Heat the deep fryer to 325 degrees.
11. Drop cookies into the hot oil and cook 12 minutes. You must test the cookies to see if they are cooked in the center. They should not be doughy in the middle. Put them in a deep pan or glass bowl as you take them from the fryer.

Honey Glaze

Ingredients:

• 3 cups honey
• 1/4 cup wine
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Warm honey glaze until the honey is dissolved and will stick to cookies. Keep on low heat while you are working. (My mother had a basket to dip into the honey pot) You could improvise with a slotted spoon and a regular pan.
2. Coat the cookies and place individually on wax paper while they dry.
3. Wine cookies freeze well, and once you try them you will be hooked.

The excitement of starting the wine cookie rolling with two very enthusiastic cooks also known as my daughters.

 

 

The initial testing of the oil to see if the cookies fry hot enough and cook all the way through.