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Sicilian Twists are sweet Italian shortbread cookies with an almond, cinnamon and honey filling and topped with a drizzle of honey and more toasted almonds.
Back a few months over the holidays, we experimented a bit with ‘pasta frolla’ – an Italian cookie dough similar to a shortbread. It’s very easy to make, extremely versatile (it’s great for cookies and tarts) and it is just a wonderful dough to work with! Since then, pasta frolla has become one of our go-to recipes when baking.
Today’s recipe for Sicilian Twists (also known as Infasciadedde – the Italian word ‘fasciare’ means to wrap or bandage) starts with pasta frolla as the base cookie that gets twisted around a rich, sweet filling made from almonds, cinnamon and honey. Once baked, these delightful cookies are topped with another drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of sliced, toasted almonds. These Sicilian Twists are wonderful served as dessert with a cappuccino – and I’ll even admit that I’ve been known to eat these for breakfast too!
After taking the photos for today’s post, we shared some of these Sicilian Twists with Jack’s parents – and my father-in-law went absolutely crazy for them! (I think you will too!) Our pasta frolla dough recipe was adapted from a notebook of great, authentic Italian recipes that we brought home from our honeymoon in Italy. Additional inspiration for this cookie is from The Washington Post.
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Sicilian Twists
Sicilian Twists are sweet Italian shortbread cookies with an almond, cinnamon and honey filling and topped with a drizzle of honey and more toasted almonds.
Ingredients
For the Pasta Frolla dough
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Zest from half a lemon
- 2 cups flour
For the Filling
- 1 1/2 cups whole almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup honey
For the Topping
- 1/2 cup Honey for drizzling
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted*
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter then add both sugars and salt. Cream until fluffy, about two minutes.
- With mixer on low, add the egg and egg yolk until mixed.
- Add vanilla and zest and mix again.
- With mixer on low, add each cup of flour until combined.
- Remove from bowl and knead by hand for about a minute.
- Refrigerate dough wrapped in plastic for up to three days or at least for two hours.
- While dough is setting up in the refrigerator, make filling.
- In the bowl of food processor, process nuts to a fine crumb but not pureed.
- Toss with cinnamon then add honey. Mix and refrigerate for later use.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On lightly floured surface, flatten and work pasta frolla dough so that it becomes soft and pliable but not warm.
- Roll into a 12×12-inch square.
- Cut square into eight strips.
- Remove filling from refrigeration and divide into eight pieces.
- Spray your hands with pan spray or a little oil and roll out one of the filling pieces into a log the same length as the dough strips. Repeat for other pieces.
- Lay one filling log over each strip of dough and bring sides of dough to center but do not pinch closed.
- Cut each strip into three. You should have 24 mini logs.
- Take each one and twist around once so the log now has spiral stripes.
- Place 12 on each of two parchment lined cookie sheets.
- Bake for 15 – 18 minutes until lightly browned. Do not over bake.
- Slide parchment with twists onto cooling racks and cool completely.
- When ready to serve, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with toasted almond slices.
- *To toast almond slices, in a sauté pan over medium heat, place nuts into dry pan and toss and cook for about five minutes until browned
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Cannot roll kept crumbling
You could try adding a little more butter to the dough to see if that helps.
I don’t want to rate the recipe because I obviously did something very wrong. I had my doubts when the spirals started unraveling before they even went in the oven. While baking, they totally came apart and the filling spread off the dough and onto the cookie sheet.
They taste very good. I like the texture of the crust. They just didn’t turn out well for me. But I don’t blame the recipe.
Debbie
Assuming every ingredient was properly measured out, about the only thing I can think of is that maybe the dough warmed up too much before filling, cutting and twisting.
If you try them again; if the dough is warming up to fast, try to put back in the refrigerator between steps.
Hope this helps,
Jack
Thanks for your reply. I baked them in two separate batches. The second time I put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes before baking. They turned out better, but still unrolled more than they should have. I wonder if the kind of butter makes a difference. Some have more water content than others. IDK, I guess I’ll just call them my ugly cookies that taste good. I love “almost” all of your recipes. Christmas Jam has become a must for my grown children. They ask for it every time they are here, and I did make Pasta Frolla with perfect results. Thanks for a great website.
Thanks for your kind words Debbie – if it helps, we typically bake/cook with Land O Lakes unsalted butter.
Christmas is over now and trying not to be tempted to eat those ‘left over’ desserts, etc., But now I am SO enticed to make these! They look impossibly delish!
Your pics sure make them look amazing!
Thanks Sherri! Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I’m making cookies for my daughter’s wedding and was wondering if I could freeze them.
Hi Nancy – We haven’t tried freezing these ourselves but I think they would freeze fairly well!