Recipe: 00224 Title : Ossi Da Mordere Author: Teresa Brucker Date : July 1995 _________________________________________________________________________ One of may favorite Italian cooks is Carol Field who wrote "The Italian Baker"...this recipe is from her book: The crunch chocolately cookies, with unexpected air pockets in their centers, are traditionally shaped like a human bone. This recipe is only one variation of the cookie, which can be found from Venice & Piedmant in the north all the way south to Sicily, where they are sometimes shaped to resemble skeletons, the infant Jesus and even grape clusters. These cookies keep very well and, in fact, are actually better the second day. Makes 2 dozen cookies 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp (100 grams) blanched almonds 1 1/3 cups (200 grams) confectioner's sugar Scant 1/4 cup (20 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, prefer Dutch process 3 to 3 1/2 tbsp egg whites 1 tbsp milk Grind the almonds to a coarse powder in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and cocoa and process to a fine powder. Add 3 tbsp egg whites & process to a stiff, solid paste. Add the additonal egg white if necessary. Shaping: Pinch off pieces of dough the size of a fat cherry and roll between your hands into balls. Place 2 inches apart on buttered or parchement-lined baking sheets. Lightly brush the tops with milk. Baking: Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes. At first the cookies will flatten out and look like nothing at all, but given a few minutes, each of these little cookies will puff up and their tops will become cracked and shiny. Cool on racks. -=-=-=-=-=-=- _________________________________________________________________________