Ms. ERMINIA CAN TEACH YOU HOW TO PREPARE THE GIGLIETTO COOKIES AT HER BAKERY!

by Jennifer Vieley It’s quite a spectacle to watch these women bakers with their talented handiwork as they prepare this historic recipe and culinary work of art with naturalness; here it is, the giglietto cookie. Infact watching them makes you want to give it a try. How in the world do they do it? They make it look so easy! In a fraction of a second, the characteristic shape comes to life on the iron cookie sheet, it is an elegant fleur-de-lis made of water, flour, eggs and sugar. Master baker Erminia explains, “It’s from years of experience. We started making these when we were children.” Three pieces of dough are put on the sheet and quickly shaped. Now the giglietto is ready to be baked in the oven. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I could hardly follow their fast pace as I tried to capture their incredible hand movements as they shaped the cookies at the historic Forno Fiasco in Castel San Pietro Romano, a small town on the hill above Palestrina, a top Monte Ginestro. They could probably have done it blindfolded.

I WANT TO TRY, TOO!

Please show me again how it’s done! One of the ladies looked at me with smiling eyes and then got to work. She showed me step by step what the correct movements were to shape the giglietto into a flower. Then she gave me some dough and told me to try for myself. I put on the apron, approached the work table and tried to remember the movements. The result? You can see my giglietto in the photo below, it’s the second from left in the bottom row! Not exactly the right shape, but it was worth a few laughs. Now it’s time for a taste.   So one of the lady bakers passed me a cookie that had been baked earlier that morning… Wow! Now I understand why SlowFood wants to put the giglietto into its Ark of Taste. The authentically delightful flavor is heavenly, it’s a cookie that’s very different from all the others. It’s light and crispy, simple but  lovely. It’s truly unique.