Creamy polenta and cranberry beans are prepared in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and then pan-fried. From the city of Modena, which is well-known for sports cars and Luciano Pavarotti. Both “casagai” and “cazzagai” are other names for this dish. This street cuisine pairs best with a mild red wine and makes a lovely snack or appetizer. Serve this dish warm as an appetizer or with a salad for a quick supper.
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 4 dozen |
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ cup hot milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Sift 3 cups flour twice. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, white sugar and cocoa. Cream 1 cup butter or margarine; blend into flour mixture. Add 1/3 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and nuts. Mix thoroughly with hands until well blended. (Dough should be the consistency of pie crust, but not sticky.)
- For each cookie, pinch off about 1 teaspoon dough. Roll by hands into balls, each about one-inch in diameter. Place on greased baking sheets. Do not flatten. Bake about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets; cool on racks. When cool, drizzle each generously with chocolate frosting. Sprinkle with candy sprinkles if desired.
- To make Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate squares over low heat. Cream with 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar. Gradually add hot milk, beating until smooth.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 226 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 22 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 143 mg |
| Sugars | 17 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These are delicious as is. ? can I freeze them before I frost them? Then defrost them at room temperature and frost them days later?
We made these exactly as written for my daughter to take in for a class presentation. Very good; the cookie isn’t very sweet, but the frosting offsets that. ( One girl declared she wanted just the frosting for her birthday.) The cookies that sat out for more than 24 hours got pretty dry, so they need to be put into a container when they’re cool enough.
THIS RECIPE WAS RIGHT ON!! I LOST MY AUNTS RECIPE AND WAS HEARTBROKEN BECAUSE EVERY YEAR SHE MADE THEM FOR CHRISTMAS. I REMEMBER SOME OF IT. WHEN I CAME ACROSS THIS RECIPE IT WAS LIKE MY AUNT SAID FROM HEAVEN THAT IS IT ROSE!! I AM 1/2 ITALIAN MY FATHER LEFT MY MOM WHEN I WAS BORN AND I WAS RAISED BY MY ITALIAN GRANDMOTHER . I WAS NAMED AFTER HER. I JUST FOUND OUT THEY LIVED IN NAPLES ITALY. THIS IS IT TASTE JUST LIKE MY AUNT MARY!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I WILL SEND A PICTURE THIS RECIPE IS PERFECT. I GIVE IT A TEN!!!!
I wish I had read the reviews before making these. I would have added egg for better texture and flavor. I wouldn’t make this recipe as is again.. but thank you for posting.
I used this + a tiny splash of orange extract + some black pepper + two eggs to try and revive an old recipe, as those additions were pretty much all I remembered from it. I’d say that it did pretty well, and it made enough cookies to last a week.
The cookies were nice, but had an overpowering clove taste. They were not how remember them as a child.
DRY
Made this for an Italian’s 80th birthday (most of the people there were from Italy), and I got MANY raves as to how good they were. My husband absolutely LOVES these. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
This is like my Italian Choc cookie. We use mini Choc chips & I cup cocco power.. We don’t use the Choc squars. But 1 can Hershey syrup. It makes them moist. I use a white icing. Butter, powder sugar, milk. When there is a wedding or holiday I’m asked to bake them. Also my nuts I ground fine. Glory. Pa
Easy to make. Great flavor. Will make again. It is a new favorite.
Very good cookie! Not rich or fudgy tasting, but a lighter chocolate taste. The glaze is very fudgy tasting though, and makes this cookie!!! It is sort of a crumbly texture when you bite into it. I think I will take other reviewers’ suggestions and add 2 eggs next time. I got 96 cookies from this recipe, and I love that they do not spread, so you can place them pretty close together on the cookie sheets. This recipe is definitely a keeper in our house.
Excellent!! Delicious!! Try it;-)
this recipe, italian or not, is wonderful. I followed other reviews, added 2 eggs, toasted to walnuts at 225 for 15 min, also added 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Im not too sure wether the eggs were nessacary or not, but 1 thing that is is to sift the flour. The cookies turned out super moist and yummy
greate Cookie Just Like my Great Crandma Made Ilost The Origonal REcipe in a House fire and have been searching every christmas for 30 years.and this is it now I can hand it down to my granddaughters
Pretty good its the glaze that makes the cookie.I will make again
Been baking Italian pastries for 40+years and have made these cookies but thought I would try this recipe. It was very dry then rereading several times and coating to my recipe. Realized there were no eggs. Tossed the cookies out but would suggest u add 2 eggs if making these cookies
Wonderful cookie. My Mom and Grandma called them Toto’s. To really spice up these cookies add 1/4 black coffee, 1 tsp whiskey and1/2 tsp all spice. You might have to add a little more flour but they are delicious this way and this how we always made them.
Great cookie…add a pinch of black pepper and they are as good as my Italian grandmothers!
This cookie turned out great– moist cookie, love the chocolate glaze. Turned out best to put the glaze in a baggie and squirt out onto the cookie. This would be a lovely cookie for a bridal or baby shower– very elegant!
Great! I absolutely loved these cookies! I did add a little almond extract in addition to the vanilla and it came it out wonderful 🙂 icing is excellent. I will definitely use this icing on different cookies
Delicious! I added 1/2 of a maraschino cherry to the center of each ball- made for a moist center and ‘chocolate covered cherry’ taste.