Piparelli from Messina, the traditional sweets that are part of Sicilian cuisine and grandmother’s recipes. Autumn sweets in Sicily are truly many and most are all connected to the tradition of November 1st, which is why they are also called “Sweets of the Dead”. Among the sweets of the dead, all rich in spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, there are Rame di Napoli, Nzuddi, but also Ossa di morto, Mostarda, Cotognata and many more. But I had never told you about PIPARELLI or PIPARELLE. Piparelli are typical Messina cookies, spiced, fragrant and slightly piquant due to black pepper (hence the name piparelli), also well known in the province of Reggio Calabria, which mistakenly also claims them as their own. Loved throughout Sicily and once tied only to November festivities, today they can be enjoyed all year, especially with a small glass of sweet wine. Their shape is similar to cantucci and like those they are rich in almonds and baked in two stages, but they are thinner and less crumbly. Piparelli are cookies without milk, eggs and butter, simple yet delicious and once you start eating the first you really can’t stop, because their aroma and crunchiness are irresistible. I remember that piparelli were my grandfather Carmelo’s favorite cookies, and sadly in the last years of his life he could no longer chew because of his dentures and had to dissolve them slowly in his mouth. While savoring them he told me that, being long-lasting cookies, piparelli were often eaten by Sicilian sailors who took them with them on their journeys.

But let’s go to the kitchen and discover the original recipe for Messina piparelli. This is a truly old recipe handed down to me by my kitchen colleague Eleonora. Eleonora is from the province of Messina, she is the owner and chef of a renowned Sicilian restaurant in Paris and she prepares them for her guests, but above all this recipe was given to her by an elderly family friend who ran a bakery in Messina.

Follow me and I’ll explain how to make these wonderful cookies, but before we get to work I remind you that if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

Also take a look at these autumn cookies:

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Rest time: 10 Minutes
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, All Saints' Day

Ingredients to make Messina piparelli

4 cups 00 flour (type 00, Italian-style all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lard
1 1/3 cups whole almonds
1 tsp black peppercorns (or ground)
1/4 tsp cloves (whole or already ground)
1 stick cinnamon (or about 1 tsp ground)
pinch salt (only if you use baking powder and not bicarbonate)
to taste orange zest
1 glass water (or Marsala or sweet wine)
1 teaspoon baking soda (or baking powder or baker's ammonia)
as needed egg (beaten for finishing)

Tools

Bowl
Stand mixer

Preparation

To make the piparelli dough you can use a stand mixer or knead by hand; the result will not change.

To make piparelli I recommend, if you can, grinding the spices yourself: you’ll get much more aromatic cookies. Gather the spices, the sugar, the honey and the sweet wine in a bowl.
Add about 100 ml of liquid taken from the total (water and wine)—about 3.4 fl oz (approximately 1/3 cup)—and work quickly. The dough should not become elastic like bread dough; it should appear sticky, so add more liquid little by little and evaluate the consistency as you go. You can knead using only water, half water and half wine, or only wine. If you use only wine or half wine and half water, replace the baking soda with a heaping teaspoon of baking powder and add the salt.
Turn the dough out onto the work surface and, with the help of a bench scraper, incorporate the almonds. Divide the dough into three parts and, this time using some flour on the work surface, roll into ropes about 4 cm in diameter—about 1.6 in.
Brush the ropes with beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (356°F) for 1 hour, until they are well browned. Let them cool for a few minutes, then while still warm, slice them crosswise with a serrated knife into slices about 1 cm (about 3/8 in) thick or a little thinner and straight. The shape varies depending on the locality where these cookies are made; I love the crosswise cut because that’s how I ate them as a child.
Arrange the cookies on a baking sheet and proceed with a second baking at 150°C (302°F) for about 10 minutes per side. Once cool, Messina piparelli are ready to be enjoyed.