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Prep time
1 hour 30 minutes
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Cook time
12 minutes
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makes
about 4 dozen
Author Notes
I first tasted these delicious little currant-studded cornmeal cookies years ago in a great little bakery in Woodstock, Vermont named Pane e Salute (Italian for “Bread and Health”). The owner and baker, Caleb Barber, was producing authentic artisanal breads, cookies, and cakes using recipes and techniques he had learned as a baker’s apprentice in Italy. I loved everything I tasted there, especially these little gems, which he called “zaletti.”
Sipping a cappuccino one morning in Caleb’s kitchen, I was able to watch him kneading his zaletti dough. A few days later, I was back at home, trying out a recipe I had found in Carol Field’s book, The Italian Baker. I had to make some changes to get the dough moist enough to look like Caleb’s. Here’s my recipe for these simple yet sophisticated little cookies from Venice. Make them a day ahead. They're delicious on baking day, but even better a day or two later. —Margot Mustich
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Ingredients
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3/4 cup
dried currants
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1/3 cup
dark rum (I use Myers’s “Original Dark” Jamaican rum)
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160 grams
unsalted butter, at room temperature
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120 grams
granulated sugar
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2
large eggs, at room temperature
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220 grams
all-purpose flour, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons for the currants
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200 grams
corn flour or fine yellow cornmeal
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2 teaspoons
baking powder
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3/4 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Directions
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Soak the currants in the rum until plump and soft, at least one hour. Drain and reserve.
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Butter four baking sheets. Set aside.
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Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
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Sift in the 220 grams of flour, corn flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well.
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Toss the currants with 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour and stir into the dough by hand.
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Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly to form a uniform dough in which the currants are more or less evenly distributed.
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Roll into an 18-inch long oval log (at its widest point the oval should be about 2 inches across). Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
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Preheat the oven to 350° F.
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Slice the chilled log on a bias at 3/8-inch intervals. Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on the buttered baking sheets (they will puff and spread as they bake).
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Bake until lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before removing to racks to finish cooling.
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Store in an airtight container.
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