JOHNSTON – A group of talented bakers at St. Brigid Parish were busily measuring out ingredients and patiently rolling out huge balls of sticky dough last week as they prepared for one of the parish’s most successful fundraisers – the annual Christmas Cookie Sale.
The women, most of whom are of Italian ancestry, created traditional confections that have been enjoyed for generations. The delicious treats included pepper biscuits, biscotti, butterballs, prune slices and egg biscuits.
“We started when we were looking for a way to make money for the church,” recalled Anna Richard, who co-chairs the event with Angela Pecchia.
Richard added that a group of women, knowing how popular cookies are during the holidays, decided to sell colorful trays of the delicious treats four years ago and never guessed that their novel fundraiser would be so successful.
This year, the two women were assisted by a large corps of 19 bakers who each volunteered to bake 12 dozen of one kind of specialty cookie for the sale.
While most of the sweets were ethnic favorites, one innovative cook took Fig Newtons, cut them in half and dipped the slices in melted chocolate and chopped walnuts .
Every year, St. Brigid Pastor Father Robert Rochon whets appetites with an announcement in the parish bulletin that is headlined “Cookies, Cookies, Cookies” to alert those with a sweet tooth to shop early since the event is usually sold out by the end of the 10 a.m. Mass.
The long-awaited sale not only attracts parishioners, but also dozens of cookie lovers from the community. The event has become so popular that its organizers also hold a similar cookie sale at Easter time, and bake many festive specialty treats associated with that holiday, in addition to many of the favorites that they bake for Christmas.
“People always ask ‘Are you making the cookies this year?’” said Nettle McCormick, one of the volunteer bakers who also helped create the cookie trays prior to the sale.
Richard said that homemade cookies are an important part of family Christmas and Easter celebrations in every region of Italy, and while some people of Italian ancestry living in this country still prepare many of the time-honored favorites, baking the traditional cookies is becoming a lost art now that most men and women work outside the home and have little time to cook.
While many of the cookie varieties are available at local ethnic bakeries during the holidays, Richard said it’s the confections’ homemade quality that attracts cookie lovers of all ages who are flooded with fond remembrances of their mothers’, grandmothers’ and aunts’ kitchens to the annual sale.
Pecchia fondly recalled the cookies that her mother, Matilda Cimini, 92, a member of St. Ann Parish, Cranston, used to bake for Christmas.
“My mother made fabulous cookies,” noted Pecchia, who added that she took over the elder woman’s job of baking dozens and dozens of family favorites about four years ago.
“The baking went on for days,” the longtime St. Brigid parishioner noted, laughing, “It probably went on for a week.”
Louisa Iannotti, one of the bakers who also helped prepare more than 100 cookie trays that were sold at the event, noted that many mothers weren’t educated and some couldn’t read, so instead of following recipes, they measured by hand. When these women passed along baking secrets to subsequent generations, which often took a lot of prodding, they would say “add a little of this and some of that.”
Richard praised the volunteer bakers for not only taking the time to prepare such a large volume of cookies, but for generously donating the cost of the ingredients such as butter, nuts and dried fruit. She also was grateful for the many shoppers who purchased the cookies to either serve at Christmas or to give as gifts.
“A lot of people came after Mass,” Richard concluded. “Everyone comes down and enjoys the cookies. They support our hard work.”
Sweet treats: Members of St. Brigid’s Christmas Cookie Sale committee (left-right) Angela Pecchia, Anna Richard, Evelyn Ricci, Claire Pietros, Louisa Iannotti and Nettie Mc Cormick prepared more than a hundred trays of traditional Italian cookies and other confections for the recent parish fundraiser. The sale was a success and will be repeated at Easter time.
Chocolate Biscotti
The following Christmas cookie recipe is offered by Anna Richard:
Makes about 4 dozen
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups almonds or walnuts
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet or use a non-stick cookie sheet. Process 1/2 cups of the nuts in a food processor until ground. Chop the remainder of the nuts.
Beat the butter in an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined. Beat in eggs and extract of your choice. Beat in as much flour as you can. Stir in the remaining flour, ground nuts and chopped nuts to form dough.
On wax paper, shape dough into two 14-inch rolls. {You can make the rolls smaller if they are too hard to handle). Place rolls on cookie sheet, 5 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Place on middle rack of oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. (Be sure to use middle rack so the rolls will not burn). Cool on cookie sheet for about an hour, then slice cookies diagonally about 1/2 inch thick. Place biscotti cut side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, and then turn biscotti over and bake for another five minutes. Place on wire rack and cool completely.
