With Christmas approaching, I look back fondly and with much nostalgia at the time I spent in my Nonna’skitchen, watching the preparation of  my favorite holiday treats: a chocolate-spice cookie, sometimes called, tatù; and the reigning queen of all holiday cookies, the cuccidati, a fig-filled sweet. I’m not sure whether I was more enchanted by the intoxicating aromas or by the fascinating process of making these specialties.

As my Nonna aged, my mother took over the baking of these cookies, and though I never actually participated in the preparations my mother passed the recipes on to me. Now I’m sadly the only member of our family left who knows how to make them, so I feel compelled to share the recipes with future generations.