Tetù e Totò al Cioccolato
(teh-TOO eh toh-TOH ahl choh-koh-LAH-toh)
Weekend Bakery Box: Sunday Sweets and Cookie Tins
If you grew up in a Sicilian-American household, the smell of these baking means the holidays have arrived. Originally a brilliant way for thrifty bakers to upcycle leftover pastry scraps, modern Tetù e Totò rely on two old-world constants to achieve their shatteringly crisp glaze and porous, melt-in-the-mouth center: lard and baker's ammonia. Forget the butter and chocolate chips of more recent diaspora adaptations. This is the unadulterated taste of the homeland, unapologetic and real, and surprisingly easy to pull off on a busy weeknight.
Before you start
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Bring the lard to room temperature.
Cold lard will not cut into the flour properly, which ruins the texture of the cookie.
Sift the powdered sugar.
Lumpy powdered sugar makes for a clumpy glaze, and these cookies rely on a flawlessly smooth shell.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour3 1/2 cup
- almond flour1 cup
- granulated sugar3/4 cup
- unsweetened cocoa powder1/3 cup
- baker's ammonia2 1/2 tsp
- ground cinnamon1 tsp
- ground cloves1/4 tsp
- kosher salt1/2 tsp
- organic orange1 med
- lard2/3 cup
- egg1 large
- whole milk3/4 cup
- powdered sugar2 1/2 cup
- unsweetened cocoa powder1/4 cup
- hot water1/4 cup
Method
- 01
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Combine the all-purpose flour, almond flour, granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of the cocoa powder, baker's ammonia, cinnamon, cloves, kosher salt, and orange zest.
- 02
Rub the room-temperature lard into the dry ingredients using your fingertips.
Keep pinching and tossing until the mixture resembles coarse, damp sand with no large lumps of fat remaining. Lard coats the flour better than butter, preventing tough gluten from forming and ensuring that signature Sicilian crumbly texture.
- 03
Add the beaten egg and a half cup of the milk, gently kneading until the mixture forms a soft, slightly sticky dough.
If it feels too dry and crumbly, add the remaining milk a tablespoon at a time until it comes together.
- 04
Pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into balls slightly larger than a walnut.
Space them an inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes until puffed and slightly cracked. Don't panic if your kitchen smells strongly of ammonia; the scent completely vanishes as the cookies cool.
- 05
Whisk the powdered sugar and remaining quarter cup of cocoa powder with the hot water until smooth.
This is your liffia, or glaze. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but thin enough to drip off slowly.
- 06
Lower the oven to 200°F, dip the top half of each cooled cookie into the glaze, and return them to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes.
This final step is the true bakery secret, flash-drying the glaze to set it into an authentic, crisp, matte shell.
Notes
Baker's ammonia is the old-world secret to a crisp, airy cookie, but baking powder works in a pinch.
If you can't source it, substitute 1 tablespoon of standard baking powder. The cookies will be a little softer and more cake-like, but still incredible.
If you cannot find lard, substitute an equal amount of softened unsalted butter.
You will lose a bit of the traditional friable texture, but the nostalgic flavor remains intact.
These cookies have an incredible shelf life.
Store them in an airtight tin at room temperature, and they will stay perfect for up to 10 days.