Just so you don’t blame the cookbook, I wanted to let you know, dear reader, that the cookies I made from Cooking with Italian Grandmothers were fantastic. While Mr. Bookdwarf worked on making the gnocchi, I made Walnut Black Pepper Cookies which Jessica Theroux made with Carluccia in Zambrone, Calabria.

It’s a very simple cookie recipe with no leavening agent added. You cream butter and sugar. Add some flour, crushed walnuts, honey, a bit of sugar and black pepper. This is from memory, but I’m pretty sure that’s it. They used walnuts picked from Carluccia’s trees and peppercorns foraged from the Calabria’s wild coastlines. I also assume they used local honey. I don’t have walnut trees or Calabrian coastline nearby. I used what I had at hand. My walnuts were a  little stale and I didn’t add quite enough black pepper. But you know what? They were damn good. I ate the last one last night and they hold up for days. You know how you make cookies sometimes and they only really taste good for that one day? These were good for many days.

Even though I want to cook pretty much every recipe in Cooking with Italian Grandmothers at this point, I’m going to make them again, perhaps tonight even.