An Italian Christmas staple, brutti ma buoni cookies vary from region to region, but always carry the same meaning: ugly but good.
They're known as bruttibuoni or brutti buoni in Prato, a city outside of Florence where Antonio Mattei, the pastry chef who invented cantucci, created the cookies during the 19th century.
Mattei's recipe, still followed today, calls for a dough made from egg whites, chopped almonds, sugar, and flour. Tuscans usually dunk their cookies into vin santo, or “holy wine,” a popular dessert beverage.
Over time, the brutti buoni cookies spread throughout Central Italy, their name eventually evolving along with some regional adaptations. The Umbrian version adds hazelnuts, making them more buoni, though also resulting in a lumpy texture that's decidedly more brutti.
The brutti ma buoni recipe
Brutti ma buoni ingredients
7 oz caster sugar, 11 oz shelled and peeled almonds, 4 ½ oz egg whites, 1 oz butter, cinnamon, vanillin, 1 pinch of salt
Method
Take the almonds and toast them in the oven at 160° C for about 8 minutes, turning them every now and then. Then chop them finely. Put the egg whites in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and whip them with electric whips. Add the almonds, cinnamon and vanilla and mix from top to bottom, being careful not to dismantle the mixture. Transfer everything into a pot, and cook over a gentle heat for 20 minutes, until it becomes compact. With a spoon take a little bit and make piles of it on a baking plate covered with buttered paper and let it cook at 100° C for 40 minutes, taking care that they do not take on too dark a color. In this case, turn them over. When they are ready, let them cool in the oven before taking them.
A touch of vanilla
Pastry chef Costantino Veniani, a confectioner from Gavirate in Varese, a province in Northwest Lombardy, also put these cookies on the map in 1878. He replaced the almonds with hazelnuts, toasting, chopping, and combining them with sugar, egg white, powdered sugar, and honey. After dividing the dough, he left it to rise into its irregular shape. He'd also add a hint of vanilla, a delicate flavor that complements sparkling wines, coffee, or hot chocolate.
Cinnamon, nuts, and a little imagination
Neapolitans usually prepare brutti ma buoni during Easter with the egg whites leftover from the pastiera napoletana dessert. This version resembles Tuscany's, incorporating cinnamon in addition to the sugar and hazelnuts. In Sicily, you can find varieties with almonds and chocolate, pistachios, pine nuts, peanuts, walnuts, or even sunflower seeds and rye flour. Savory and vegan riffs on the cookie also abound.
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