The Apulian milk cookies are breakfast treats that are very simple and also widespread in Apulia. You can find them almost everywhere, whether in supermarkets or bakeries, and depending on the area, they are called milk cookies, milk pastries, egg pastries, Apulian pastries, or small pastries.
Their peculiarity is their simplicity: they are made with very few genuine ingredients and are the classic cookies with baking ammonia instead of yeast. Every family, every town has its own particular recipe, what they have in common is that they are soft and perfectly dunkable… that’s why they are called “milk cookies”… it’s a real pleasure to enjoy them accompanied by a nice big cup of hot milk!
Moreover, they are so good, simple, and genuine to prepare, that they are also perfect for your children’s snack… my daughters love them and indeed I often and gladly prepare them… this time I barely managed to photograph them, before they gobbled them all up!
The recipe I propose is from my family, in particular, these are the cookies my maternal grandmother always used to make (my paternal grandmother, instead, always made rustic cookies with jam): she had many grandchildren, both big and small, but what was never missing in her house were these milk pastries, which she would offer us for a snack or when we went to visit her! In short, for me, they are the classic grandma cookies, to which I have many childhood memories attached!
But let’s move on to us and our Apulian milk cookies: preparing them is really simple. You won’t need whisks, blenders, stand mixers, etc…, but just a bowl and a spoon.
Well, let’s move straight to the recipe and see together how to prepare these delicious Apulian milk cookies! If you are interested in other cookie and sweet recipes, don’t miss my collection, which you can find HERE.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 328.20 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 52.31 (g) of which sugars 20.23 (g)
- Proteins 7.56 (g)
- Fat 11.32 (g) of which saturated 2.18 (g)of which unsaturated 8.58 (g)
- Fibers 1.05 (g)
- Sodium 123.03 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Apulian Milk Cookies
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar (+ a bit more to sprinkle the cookies)
- 7 tbsps olive oil
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tsp baking ammonia
- 1 lemon zest (grated)
- 1 packet vanillin
Tools to Prepare Apulian Milk Cookies
- Bowl
- Spoon
- Baking Tray
- Oven
Preparation of Apulian Milk Cookies
Preparing Apulian milk cookies is very simple. Let’s see the recipe together.
First of all, slightly warm the milk until it becomes lukewarm and dissolve the ammonia in it.
I recommend using a rather large glass because once the ammonia is added, it will foam and the milk level will rise significantly.
In a bowl, break the eggs and add the sugar. Stir quickly with a spoon until the sugar is well combined with the eggs.
Then add the vanillin, grated lemon zest, and oil. Stir again.
Gradually add the flour and mix. You will get a mixture that will seem quite “hard”.
Finally, add the milk+ammonia mixture and mix well until you have a dough with a consistency very similar to choux pastry for cream puffs.
Cover the bowl with a cloth and let the mixture rest for an hour.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, take about half a tablespoon of dough and place it on the baking sheet, trying to shape it into a round shape.
Continue filling the baking sheet, spacing the mounds well apart because they grow a lot during baking.
If you have difficulty, wet the spoon with a little oil or water.
Sprinkle the surface of the milk pastries with granulated sugar and bake the Apulian milk cookies in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 10-12 minutes.
They will be ready when they start to be golden on the surface and small cracks form.
Do not let them darken too much because they could become dry.
Once ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.
Storage:
– Apulian milk cookies can be stored for up to a week well-sealed in a food bag, an airtight container, or a tin box.
– With these quantities, you can make about 30-35 (depending on how big you make them), but if you want, you can also freeze them and then take them out little by little as needed. Alternatively, you can halve the quantities of this recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I replace baking ammonia with baking powder?
This is a question I get very often. Theoretically yes, if you really don’t want to use ammonia, you can use baking powder in the same quantity, but I warn you that the result won’t be quite the same. The softness that baking ammonia gives to these cookies is truly unique. I know many are afraid of the unpleasant smell of ammonia, but I assure you it will only be noticeable during baking. Once the cookies are taken out of the oven and cooled, you won’t smell it anymore.
Where can I find baking ammonia?
It is easily found in all supermarkets in convenient single packets. They generally place them in the sweets section, next to the baking powder, or near the checkout. Alternatively, you can purchase it on Amazon: you can find the link by clicking on the ingredient list of this recipe.
Can I enrich the milk cookies with something?
Of course, you can add dark chocolate chips to the dough and then proceed with the recipe.
