Italian Chocolate Spiced Cookies (Tetù)
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Soft chocolate spiced cookies dotted with walnuts and topped with a sweet sugar glaze. A classic Sicilian cookie recipe found on cookie platters at nearly every Italian gathering. And a favourite treat enjoyed with morning coffee.
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My mother-in-law bakes a batch of these every year for the holidays. She sticks with walnuts in hers because that’s how they were made back home in Racalmuto, although you’ll also find versions with almonds or a mix of nuts and raisins. My cousin has a nut allergy, so she recently started swapping in chocolate chips. Not traditional by any means (don’t tell the purists), but they are really good! If you’re putting together a tray of Italian Christmas cookies, these sit nicely beside my Traditional Italian Butter Cookies.
A lot of Italian cookies are on the dry side and made for dunking. These are the exception. They bake up soft with a tender middle, and the chocolate and spice aren’t overly sweet. That makes them one of my favorite spiced cookies to have with a strong espresso. If you want a brighter cookie for the tray, my soft Tarallucci al Limone bring a fresh hit of lemon to balance out the chocolate.
A Quick Peek At The Ingredients
Get the full list of ingredients and amounts needed for this recipe in the recipe card below.
Step-By-Step Made Simple
- Brew a cup of hot coffee, and while it is hot, mix it in a small bowl with the sugar. Mixing it while hot will easily dissolve the sugar to make a sweet coffee mixture to later add to the dough. Cold coffee won’t dissolve the sugar as well. Once the two are mixed, set the bowl aside and let it cool completely. When I am in a hurry, I place the bowl in the fridge to cool it down faster.
- While the coffee is cooling, add a large sieve over top of a large bowl and add in the flour, baking powder, soda, spices and cocoa powder. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl below. Sifting breaks up any clumps and ensures that the ingredients are more evenly combined.
- Add the shortening to the sifted dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. My grandma always just used two knives. All you do is hold the end of the knives together side by side and slice into the shortening and into the dry ingredients. Because there will be a small gap between the two, doing so acts just like a pastry cutter. When the shortening is broken into smaller bits, then I use my hands to “rub in” the shortening to the dry ingredients until it forms an oatmeal-like texture. You are looking for small ripples or lumps of shortening.
The Rub-In Method
This works for shortening or butter when you are asked to cut in the fat. To do this, place your hands in the bowl and rub your thumbs against your fingertips while holding the flour and fat mixture. Rub together to push or spread the fat into the dry ingredients to create thin ripples of fat throughout the dry ingredients.
- Gradually add the chilled coffee and sugar into the dry ingredients and mix until all of the dry ingredients are moist. Make sure the coffee is cold before adding so as not to melt the shortening. Maintaining those fat ripples is what gives these cookies their light, airy texture.
- Stir in the walnuts. Or any combination of nuts, raisins or chocolate chips if going nut-free.
- Roll the dough into balls, a heaping tablespoon at a time, then bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes or until firm. Do not overbake, or they will become dry. As soon as they start to show any cracking on the top, I take them out. Transfer to a cooling rack and let the cookies cool completely.
- Mix the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Use a basting brush to glaze the tops of the cooled cookies. Let them set for 10 minutes before serving and 30 minutes before storing.
Leftovers? No Problem!
This Chocolate Spiced Cookie recipe makes about 60 cookies, so you are unlikely to need them all. You can halve the recipe, but I like to freeze them so that I have them for coffee or when guests come over.
Once the icing on the cookies is completely set and hardened, you can store them on the counter in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature before serving.
You can also freeze the raw dough. I like to roll the cookies into balls before freezing so that I can pull out what I need. Let the frozen cookies thaw to room temperature before baking, as per the directions.
Italian Chocolate Spiced Cookies (Tetù)
Ingredients
Chocolate Spiced Cookies
- 1 cup hot coffee
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 4 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp allspice
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ lb shortening
Sugar Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk
Instructions
- Mix the sugar and hot coffee together in a small bowl until the coffee is dissolved. Set aside to cool completely.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, allspice, cinnamon and cloves together.
- Add the shortening to the bowl of sifted dry ingredients and cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. Use your hands and the "rub-in" method by rubbing handfuls of the dry ingredients between your thumbs and fingertips to create thin ripples of shortening mixed with the dry cookie mix. When done there should be small ripples or pebbles of shortening to look like coarse oatmeal.
- Gradually mix the chilled coffee liquid into the dry ingredients until moistened and combined well.
- Stir in the walnuts.
- Roll a tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball and place it on a parchment-lined or non-stick cookie sheet, filling it with a dozen evenly spaced. Bake for 10-12 minutes until firm to the touch and with small cracks just starting to form on the top of the cookies. Do not overbake or they will dry out. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Repeat until all of the cookies are baked.
- Once the cookies are cooled, mix the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Use a basting brush to spread the glaze on the top of the cookies. Let the glaze set for 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Notes
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
