Mangia Con Elena

  Lemon Ricotta Cookies IG: @mangia.con.elena Italians love lemons. Scroll through any Italian cookbook and guaranteed  you will see many dishes, sweets and drinks that feature lemons as either the main attraction or a flavourful addition.  My love affair with lemon cookies started as a young child. There was always some type of lemon cookie, crostata, ciambellone or torta in our kitchen and these  lemon ricotta cookies were definitely one of my favourites.  I would sneak these out of the freezer and eat them frozen. Take a look at my  previous posts for her lemon ciambellone and her anginetti cookies. Light and fluffy with a sweet lemony glaze that melts in your mouth.  Give these lemon cookies a try and you will fall in love with lemons as well! To make them more festive for the Christmas season you can dip them in sprinkles right after the icing sugar. Ingredients 2 1/4 cups of flour 1 tsp of baking powder pinch of salt 1/2 cup room temperature butter 8 ounces of fresh ricotta- be s

  Ciambelline al Vino/Wine and Anise Donuts IG: @mangia.con.elena Ciambelline al vino is a classic Italian dolci originating from the Lazio region. You would find them at almost every bakery and cafe/bar in Rome and surrounding cities and villages. They are made with simple ingredients of flour, olive oil, sugar, dry white wine and anise seeds. They  are a bit hard and crunchy on the outside which makes them perfect for dunking into wine as a dessert or into your coffee or espresso! As children we would dunk them into our caffe latte in the mornings or as a  mid afternoon snack dunked into milk! They make an appearance at every special Italian celebration and were always available in our house for pop in afternoon guests. My mother would freeze them in freezer bags and just pull them out as she needed them. There might have been a few times that she was disappointed because the bag sat empty in the freezer as we would sneak in and eat them! Cominciamo! Ingredients 4-5 cups of all purpo