These delightful cookies called serpette or ‘Little Snakes’ are from Domenica Marchetti’s superb new cookbook, Italian Cookies.

Being a non-baker, my knowledge of the cookies is pretty much limited to a few of the ‘greatest hits’ like cantucci, mostaccioli and, of course, Angelina’s taralli dolci, which in our family we used to call ‘Nana’s cookies’. I had a lot to learn, so when I heard Domenica had just published a book on the subject, you know I snapped it up immediately. And ever since I’ve been practically devouring the recipes in this fascinating book, no doubt the most comprehensive treatment of the subject you’ll find in English.

With Domenica’s kind permission, I’m sharing with you one of her recipes.* It was a difficult choice, as there are quite a few I want to try out. Of course, it had to be something I hadn’t blogged about before. And something easy enough for a neophyte baker like me to pull off.

When I stumbled on serpette, I knew I’d hit pay dirt. The recipe comes from from my erstwhile hometown of Rome, or more precisely from the hilltop town of Monte Porzio Catone in the nearby Castelli Romani, an area perhaps best known for Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, and to foodies for Ariccia’s excellent porchetta. It’s also home to some gorgeous white wines. But I digress…

Serpette remind me quite a bit of the taralli dolci Angelina used to make, though serpette are rather more delicate as they are enriched with butter rather than oil, and scented with orange and lemon zest rather than anisette. And of course, rather than rings or twists, serpette are formed into a snake-ish S shape that lends them their name—and also their other knickname in English, ‘S Cookies’. Light and crumbly, sweet but not too sweet, they are definitely my kind of cookie!

Like my Nana’s cookies, serpette are delicious on their own, but even better enjoyed inzuppate—dunked in coffee or a sweet wine, classically the local Cannellino di Frascati.

Ingredients

Makes about 16 cookies

100g (½ cup) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
100g (3½ ounces or 7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
Finely grated zest of ½ orange
240g (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
120g (1 cup) pastry flour or soft 00 flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
fine salt

To finish:

1 large egg
granulated sugar, as needed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190C/375° F.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a large bowl until lightened and foamy. Then whisk in the melted butter, a little at a time, followed by the lemon and orange zests.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and a tiny pinch of salt. Pour this into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until well incorporated. Knead briefly with your hands to form a cohesive dough.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces weighing about 40g (1½ ounces) each.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a fat finger about 16cm (6 inches) long, then bend each finger it into an S shape.

Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the cookies with the egg, beaten together with a tablespoon of water. Then sprinkle them with sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the serpette are set and golden in color, with a few light cracks on top.

Let your serpette cool, still on their baking sheet, for about 20 minutes, then transfer them cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes on serpette

Domenica calls this an ‘unplugged’ recipe since you should mix the pasta frolla by hand. With a standing mixer, you risk overworking the dough. She says you could use a standing mixer to mix the wet ingredients if you wanted, but for these quantities there’s no real need. It took me well under a minute whisking by hand.

As with any pasta frolla, if you’re working in a warm environment the dough can become a bit hard to work with. If this happens to you, then just pop it in the fridge for a few minutes and start again.

Cooling the cookies completely after baking is key. Right out of the oven, they are so delicate they could lose their characteristic S shape or even fall apart if you try to handle them. As they cool, they firm up, taking on their characteristic light and crumbly texture, perfect for dunking.

A note on flours

If you don’t have pastry flour or soft 00 flour on hand, I would imagine that you could use all purpose flour only. I remember that Angelina made her taralli dolci that way and they were quite fine. Of course, the texture won’t be quite as delicate. Or use perhaps half the amount of cake flour, which is even softer than pastry flour, and increase the amount of all purpose accordingly.

Variations

I’ve found a few minor variations in other recipes for serpette. One is adding some limoncello to lean into the citrus flavor or, like Angelina’s cookies, some anisette. Some substitute oil for butter. And sprinke a bit of cinnamon on top the cookies along with the sugar.

A Short History of Serpette

According to tradition, serpette originated from the town of Sermoneta a bit further south near Latina. The story goes that they were first prepared in 1571 to celebrate the victory of the alliance of Catholic powers called the Holy League in the Battle of Lepanto against the Ottomans. The lord of Semoneta, Duca Onorato IV Caetani, having commanded one of the ships of the allied fleet, was feted with great pomp upon his return home. The cookies’ characteristic S shape recalls the snakes that appears in the Caetani family crest, meant to symbolize how the Caetani devoured their enemies. The victory, attributed by locals to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, is still celebrated annually in Sermoneta on the second Sunday in October.

It wasn’t until 1900 that S shaped cookies named serpette started to be made, apparently independently, in Monte Porzio Catone, where they were prepared for celebrating special occasions like baptisms and weddings. Today, serpette are practically synonymous with the town, and in particular with the Antico Panificio Egidi, a historic bakery in town that has been operating since the 1600s, run by the family matriarch Graziella and her sons.

Making serpette ahead

The serpette will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

More on Domenica’s Italian Cookies

Domenica’s new book is a real gem. As I said at the top, with over 100 recipes from every region in the country, I’m sure it’s the most comprehensive treatment of Italian Cookies in English. I’m also sure it will become an instant classic for lovers of Italian cookery and cookies more generally.

I’ll let Domenica herself tell your more about her book:

ITALIAN COOKIES, my ninth cookbook, is a grand tour of Italy through its cookies. It is a deep dive into a seemingly frivolous subject that turns out to be not frivolous at all! The book was years in the making, and my research took me to country villages, towns, and cities in all 20 regions of Italy. What I discovered as I traveled from Piedmont to Calabria and to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, is that much like Italian food and Italian wine, the cookies of Italy are regional in character, their recipes rooted in the land and the culture, and in local ingredients that tell a story. Butter in the north, olive oil and wine in the south; rich hazelnuts in Piedmontese Baci di Dama, and sweet, buttery Romano almonds in Sicilian amaretti.

There are cookies with histories dating back centuries, and cookies whose popularity attract travelers from all over. There are elegant, piped cookies, and fat, generous biscotti da inzuppo ~ delicious dunking cookies (and everything in between). I set out to discover their stories…

What struck me more than anything, as I worked on this project, is the fact that wherever I went in Italy, whether it was a tiny bakery tucked away in a village or a large, well-known producer, the most important ingredient was this: the human touch. In Italy, cookies are in large part still made by hand: hand mixed, hand shaped. It was meeting the people–the bakers and the artisans—who continue to produce these beloved cookies—that made this project so meaningful to me and worthy of a deep exploration.

The book is available in major bookstores as well as all the main online sources, including amazon.com and Apple Books.

* The recipe in this post has been ever so slightly ‘frankified’. I’ll let you guess how.

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Serpette (Little Snake Cookies)

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Cool time15

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Lazio

Keyword: baked

Servings:

Calories: 160.9kcal

Ingredients

100 g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
Finely grated zest of ½ orange
240 g unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for the work surface
120 g 1 cup pastry flour or soft 00 flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
fine salt

To finish:

1 large egg
granulated sugar as needed

Metric – US

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190C/375° F.
Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a large bowl until lightened and foamy. Then whisk in the melted butter, a little at a time, followed by the lemon and orange zests.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and a tiny pinch of salt. Pour this into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until well incorporated. Knead briefly with your hands to form a cohesive dough.
Divide the dough into 16 pieces weighing about 40g (1½ ounces) each.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a fat finger about 16cm (6 inches) long, then bend each finger it into an S shape.
Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the cookies with the egg, beaten together with a tablespoon of water. Then sprinkle them with sugar.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the serpette are set and golden in color, with a few light cracks on top.
Let your serpette cool, still on their baking sheet, for about 20 minutes, then transfer them cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.