Southern Italian Flavors Can Spice Up Christmas - Mostaccioli Cookies

A reader asked for a recipe for Mostaccioli Cookies for serving at Christmastime. These spicy cake-like cookies remind me of Spanish Bar Cakes and are delicious, so I recommend them for any time that you want to enjoy cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and related spices. They also contain chocolate, reminding me of Mexican hot chocolate drinks. So much flavor in one cookie makes one want to dispense all others during the holidays.

To accompany another cookie and ice cream I offered for Christmas - golden Champagne Cookies and glittery Peppermint Stardust Ice Cream with a glittering drink - I suggested using golden snow globes on the dining table. For this chocolate creation - have you ever heard of chocolate diamonds?

Chocolate brown diamonds are a different color than usually connected with the precious gems, nut are quitre attractive. They may be a little expensive for decorating a dessert table at home, but if you are giving gifts of jewelry to intimate friends, they may be just the ticket. They would complement the chocolate spice cookies quite fully.

For something new at a Christmas Holidays Engagement or Anniversary Party, these chocolate diamonds and chocolate spice cookies would be a real memory for the honored guests.

Makes about 60 cookies or 5 dozen at only 55 calories each.

I like to add 1/2 Cup chopped English Walnuts to my recipe - do that when you combine flour and spices in the recipe below. Some recipes call for ground almonds.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa (Baker's or Hersey's Brand or a Mexican variety)
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Cup or 1 stick of Butter or butter substitute, at room temperature
• 1 Large Whole Egg
• 1/2 Cup Whole Vitamin D Milk

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In medium-sized bowl, place the flour, cocoa, baking powder and all the spices together.
• In a larger bowl, use a hand mixer set on MEDIUM to beat sugar and butter until light yellow and well mixed.
• Reduce speed to LOW and add the egg.
• At little at a time, alternate mixing in the milk and the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
• Dust our hands with cocoa.
• Take 1-tablespoon bits of dough and roll into cookie balls, placing them 2-inches apart on a dry cookie sheet.
• Bake in batches for 7 or 8 minutes or until puffed up and a bit cracked-looking (see photo).
• Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

INGREDIENTS FOR FROSTING

• 3 TBSP Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1/4 Cup boiling Water
• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• Sprinkles for garnish, if you like. Many cooks use white sprinkles as a tradition, to look like snow.

NEXT STEPS

• In a clean medium-sized bowl, mix the 3 TBSP cocoa for the icing with a fork with 1/4 cup boiling water until smooth.
• Carefully stir in the powdered sugar a bit at a time and blend each addition.
• Dab the top of each cookie into the frosting and replace on wire rack and dust with sprinkles.
• Set 15 - 20 minutes and serve.
• Leftovers can be packed between sheets of waxed paper and refrigerated.

ALTERNATIVES

• Instead of frosting and sprinkles, the cookies can by simply dusted with powdered sugar.
• If dipping in frosting, the baker can sprinkle the cookies with flaked coconut instead of sprinkles.
• You can also roll the cookie dough out and cut into diamonds or flatten dough balls into flat cookies.