Anne Deaton’s Siggy Cookies

Submitted by: ANNE DEATON

Siggy' refers to 'Sicilian.' This simple Italian recipe comes from my Grandma Simonetti and likely her Grandmother before. These are plain cookies of the sugar cookie variety. For some reason, the tradition is that Siggy Cookies are made in winter. The day the first snowfall begins starts Siggy Cookie season! I have followed that same tradition with my own family and the kids loved coming in from their first romp in the snow to hot chocolate and Siggy Cookies! The first batch always features the cookies in the shape of the letter beginning the name of each member of the family. The cookies that follow are in other letters, twists, candy canes, circles, and any shape the kids desire --- curvy snakes being a favorite! This is a perfect cookie for dunking in coffee! Do people still dunk?

Siggy Cookies

Makes 20+ cookies,
depending on the width of the rope used to shape the cookies

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar

• Pinch of salt -- about 1/4 teaspoon

• 3 eggs -- whip with fork

• 1 1/2 to 1/ 3/4 teaspoons vanilla

• 1/2 cup milk

• 3/4 cup shortening (recommend Crisco) (melted in Microwave, let cool slightly}
  
  

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets
   1. Mix well all 4 dry ingredients in a very large bowl. Make a well in the center.

2. Except Crisco, mix 3 wet ingredients together in a small bowl.

3. Add wet ingredients to the flour well in the large bowl. [Let Crisco cool a bit while doing steps 1 and 2].

4. Stir all ingredients in a large bowl with a fork and when somewhat combined, add melted Crisco.

5. Continue stirring. This makes a stiff but sticky dough that my Grandmother and Mother actually mixed with their hands well floured!

6. Place dough, well covered, in the refrigerator for an hour. Also keeps well overnight.

7. Flour a surface for shaping cookies (I used my kitchen counter rather than a board or cookie mat.

8. Take a good lump of dough and roll it around in your hands, then onto the surface and begin rolling with both floured palms into a long rope (say 10 inches) around 1/4 -1/2 inch thick. The shape you choose to make will dictate how much of the rope you cut off to make that shape --- say 4 inches for an "S" shape.

9. Place shaped cookies on a lightly greased cookies sheet (bake, using one cookie sheet at a time). Do not crowd cookies as they expand. The thickness of the rope determines how long they take to bake. Somewhere between 20 -25 minutes or until the tester comes out clean and the cookies are very lightly brown on top.
   
   Traditionally, they are served plain, but you can fancy them up with powdered sugar!
   

   If you find your dough too sticky to manage even on your well-floured surface, work in a little bit of flour with well-floured hands. If you find it too stiff to roll into a rope, work in a tablespoon of milk at a time with well-floured hands.