November Biscuits

This is an Italian recipe for a typical kind of biscuits, called "Pane dei Morti", traditional from Lombardia . It is prepared for the 2nd of November in every region of Italy so you can find different recipes for the same kind of sweet. The following recipe is made with dried biscuits, macaroons, dried figs, raisins, almonds and cocoa. If you want you can use only dried biscuits without macarrons and you can also add candied fruit, like orange or lemon, and honey. They stay sweet and good also 2 or 3 days after their preparation.

INGREDIENTS
300 g of Dried Biscuits
200 g of Macaroons
300 g of Sugar
250 g of Flour
75 g of Cocoa
100g of Raisin
100g of Dried Figs
100 g of Almonds
4 Egg Whites
15 g of Yeast for sweets
1 / 2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon
4-5 Tablespoons of White Wine
Icing Sugar

PREPARATION TIME: 40 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Chardonnay (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let raisins soften for about 15 minutes. Chop the almonds, crumble the biscuits and the macaroons and mix them in a bowl together with the flour.

Then mince the dried figs and the raisins, add them to biscuits togheter with the sugar and blend all.

Now add the cocoa, the yeast, the cinnamon and mix. 

Add the egg whites and the wine, and knead vigorously for about ten minutes until you obtain a soft dough.

If the dough is too hard add some white wine. Preheat the oven to 180° C. Divide the dough in pieces with the shape of long and flat biscuits.

Cover a pan with a sheet of baking paper and place the biscuits on it. Put them in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes. If you want you can cook the biscuits for another 10 minutes to make them drier. This is the result:

BUON APPETTITO!