The vin santo shortbread cookies are small crispy and aromatic stars, made with flour, vin santo, and olive oil. Nothing else but a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of sugar. You all might wonder what’s on my mind, but I’ll explain right away. All over Italy, these simple wine cookies are prepared, which seem to hold together by miracle. In Umbria, for example, they are rings or twists covered with granulated sugar; but I bought a truly special book of Genoese recipes: Strictly Lean Cuisine by Father Beniamino Delle Piane.
A Franciscan friar of the Order of Friars Minor, Father Beniamino, after cooking for his brothers for a long time, wrote a cookbook in 1880, well before Pellegrino Artusi. So, friends, is it possible that a 19th-century friar wrote a magnificent vegetarian (perhaps vegan) cookbook with the exception of fish? Yes, it is possible, and I couldn’t help but buy it. After reading it carefully, I chose this recipe for vin santo shortbread to start following Father Beniamino’s strictly lean cuisine. The star-shaped cookies are delicious, I decorated them on the surface, and they will certainly be part of my homemade gifts.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour (semi-wholemeal, for me)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar (also brown)
- 1 small glass vin santo (or any other aromatic wine)
- 4 3/4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (Ligurian, very delicate)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon colored sprinkles (or white, as in my case)
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
Tools
I always mix with the kitchen processor, and I’ve written an article on this topic where you’ll find secrets and helpful tips.
Mixing shortbread dough in the kitchen processor
How to prepare vin santo cookies
Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl, or in the food processor glass. Either way, you will then have to gradually pour in the oil while mixing, and then the wine, until you get a firm and fairly elastic dough. If you are not Ligurian and do not have a good light and delicately flavored olive oil available, replace it with seed oil. Father Beniamino’s recipe recommends working the dough little so it doesn’t harden, and does not indicate resting times.
Then roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and “leave it the thickness of a silver shield.” We will pretend the silver shield was a little over a quarter inch, and we’ll cut many small stars until we finish the dough. No parchment paper is needed, just slightly flour the work surface.
Finally, bake the vin santo shortbread cookies for about twenty minutes at 340°F.
These cookies are very low in calories, and therefore will be an excellent comfort for those, like me, who pay attention to sugars and fats.
If we decide to decorate them, to make them sweeter and prettier, I recommend a simple water glaze. I made three types of stars: covered with white glaze, with just a light glaze and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and finally, with small white sprinkles, glued on by a light brush of glaze. By doing so, we will get adorable cookies perfect for gifting, maybe wrapped in a homemade organic beeswax wrap.
I really like cookies, making them, packaging them, eating them, and giving them as gifts. And I like ceramic and porcelain cake stands and the old plates they are served on. And the tin boxes. If you are like me, also read:
⁕ Shortbread Cookies: ideas, recipes, and secrets for baking and decorating shortbread cookies
⁕ Sweets to package for Christmas
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