Lettera al direttore. Caro direttore, molta gente non si è recata alle urne. I motivi che spingono tante persone ad astenersi dal voto, sono diversi. Alcuni non vanno a votare semplicemente perché persuasi che niente potrà cambiare; che non c’è distinzione tra destra o sinistra o centro: “Sono tutti uguali”, pensano. Altri non vanno perché non riescono a prendere una decisione; oppure non capiscono nulla di politica.  Altri per altri motivi ancora, ma l’effetto che ottengono li accomuna tutti: fanno sì che la democrazia perda il suo significato, sia un po’ meno democrazia. (Attilio Doni)

I stumbled across this recipe on the Cream Puffs in Venice blog.  I didn’t tweak the ingredients at all, but I did pipe them out differently.  I didn’t have the 3/4″ star tip that was recommended for this recipe, so I went to the store to find one and had no luck there, either.  I did, however, come across a Wilton #32 tip that seemed like it would work and it was nicely priced with a red 75 cent clearance tag.  Can’t beat that!  I snatched it up and headed straight home to try out these cookies.

When I first saw this recipe, I was intrigued because I had never had a cookie with cornmeal as an ingredient.  I also knew I had plenty of cornmeal due to an error I made while grocery shopping.  I had bought a container of it thinking I didn’t have any when I really had an unopened bag in my pantry.  I knew that if these cookies were as delicious as they looked, that I’d make a ton of them with my over-abundant cornmeal supply and send them with the husband to his place of business.  His co-workers love it when I send cookies.

I also thought these cookies would be nice to try because I am half Italian per my dad’s side of the family.  My mom’s side is a mixture of English and maybe German (but I could be making that up…) and so is my husband’s family.  I always figured that if we have children of our own then they’d likely have more German and English characteristics and the Italian would fade away in the background.  I know cookies don’t really have anything to do with my future children, but the more heritage I can grab ahold of now would be benificial in the future for teaching the kiddos about their background.  How’s that for future planning?!

Okay, now for the recipe, taken from the Cream Puffs in Venice website, and also credited to the original recipe author, Father Giuseppe Orsini from his book Italian Baking Secrets:

Crumiri

1-3/4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vanilla
2/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. The mixture should be very light in colour.

Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.

Mix together the flour, salt and cornmeal and add slowly to the butter mixture, with the motor running on low speed. As soon as the flour mixture is added, add the extract.

The cookie dough will be thick. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped tip (3/4 of an inch to an inch in width).

Pipe the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets in whatever design you like. The cookies shouldn’t be longer than 3 or 4 inches and should be spaced 2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, anywhere from 12 to 14 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack.

As I mentioned before, I used a Wilton #32 tip.  I made quite a few different shapes of these cookies.  My favorite are the curly ones, or the suino code.

L’ineffabile Resto del Carlino, da sempre in prima linea, non si perderebbe mai uno scoop.