“As a kid I spent Christmases tearing around my grandmother’s house, rattling dish cabinets and nerves, fists full of green-tinted, crumb-trailing buttery spritz cookies,” says Chris Morocco. “Cookies were my grandma’s version of a Christmas bonus: doled out to, or withheld from, family and friends. Even after she passed away, nobody dared mess with her recipes, least of all the pizzette, an Italian classic with fudgy texture, piercing bittersweet chocolate, almonds, citrus zest, and a heady undertone of cinnamon and clove. But perhaps a bit dry? A touch too much clove? My first attempt at an overhaul fell flat and I scrapped it, fearing angry Nonna vibes. But this year I didn’t hold back. I made the dough more like brownie batter, used butter instead of oil, and took out the coffee. Buttery, rich, and balanced…who could be mad about that?”
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 20
Ingredients
Cookies
¾
1½
1
½
½
¾
½
½
½
¼
1
1
4
1
1
Glaze and assembly
2
2
⅔
Preparation
Cookies
Step 1
Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°. Toast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until slightly darkened in color and fragrant, 7–10 minutes. Let cool, then finely chop. Set aside. Increase oven temperature to 375°.
Step 2
Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes to infuse.
Step 3
Whisk granulated sugar and cocoa powder in a large bowl. Pour in spiced butter, scraping pan so you don’t leave any spices behind, and whisk vigorously to combine. Add egg and egg yolk; whisk vigorously to combine. Mix in dry ingredients, then almonds, chocolate chips, lemon zest, and orange zest. Turn out onto a clean surface. Divide in half, then roll each half into a log about 1½" wide. Flatten logs to 2" wide and slice on a diagonal into 1"-wide cookies. Divide between 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing at least 1" apart.
Step 4
Bake cookies, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until firm around edges but still soft in the middle, 8–10 minutes. Let cool.
Glaze and assembly
Step 5
Melt chocolate and butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a small saucepan of barely simmering water (do not let bowl touch water), stirring occasionally, or melt in a small microwave-safe bowl in a microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring between bursts. Add powdered sugar, salt, and 2 Tbsp. boiling water and whisk until glaze is smooth and glossy.
Step 6
Dip tops of cookies into glaze and let sit, glaze side up, on a wire rack until glaze is set, about 2 hours.
Step 7
Do ahead: Pizzettes can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature, or freeze up to 1 month.
Leave a Review
Reviews (39)
Back to TopMy family made pizzettes and a few other cookies for every holiday and weddings. I have been making them for years from my mothers recipe. I decided to try his one and it was good. My family put the orange flavor into the glaze instead of the cookie. I use orange oil because it tastes more natural. Either way they are delicious! I followed this recipe. They are hard to roll into a log and cut no matter which recipe you use. I did roll them and it was ok. Rather than cut the amount of nuts and chocolate chips because those things make the cookie, a couple of years ago I decided to scoop them. It works. They made them look great so I wonder how they did it because they're not a pretty cookie. The glaze does wonders for them. Because of the spices and citrus it's fun to see peoples reaction to the flavor.
Chris
L.A., Ca.
1/10/2021
These were really good. My housemates couldn’t get enough of them. Only changes I made were halving the spices, and adding finely chopped dark chocolate instead of chips. Dough was a little tricky to roll out, but nothing that a careful hand couldn’t manage. A sharp chefs knife worked well for cutting them. I also refrigerated them on their baking sheets for about 15 min before baking because I was worried about them melting in the oven. They still collapsed a little in the heat, so I think next time I’d chill them for about 30 min. 10 min in the oven made for a really nice, fudgey cookie with fun textures and flavors. I’m not usually a huge icing fan but in this case I think it really makes the cookies sing.
LG
Portland, OR
1/8/2021
Is it just me, or is the new "print-ready" format a huge failure? The amount of space between ingredients and steps wastes an inordinate amount of paper. I end up having to save as PDF and then go in with Adobe Acrobat pr and completely reformat the whole recipe and add in the now-missing photo. :-( This new endless scrolling format trend on websites makes for a needlessly tedious and exasperating user experience that makes me not want to try the darned recipes. Whether you choose to print or use a tablet, the formatting makes it really hard to follow a recipe. As for the cookies; thanks to the GF baker for their tips as I have a gluten-sensitive roommate I'd like to make these for. I am assuming from the (rather vague) instructions that the intent is to cut these along the lines of a biscotti? But given the number of reviewers who had issues rolling out the logs, it sounds like it may be more trouble than it's worth, and patting them out into a sheet then cutting them as oblong bricks might be easier? In any case, I'll give these a try as written with the "chop the nuts and chips first" addendum and see how they come out. Many thanks, reviewers, for your input and detailed experiences with this (and other) recipes!
Suzinsf
San Francisco
1/7/2021
I followed the recipe exactly, resulting in a crumbly dough which would not hold together in logs. I added another egg and a little more butter which helped moisten the dough enough. The end result was a delicious cookie. The orange zest in the chocolate is decadent and tastes even better two days after baking.
David
Weaverville, NC
1/3/2021
Not a fan of this cookie at all. The dough was too crumbly, didn’t shape well, and impossible to cut. Flavors were off. Never had such a dismal recipe from BA before.
Anonymous
Los Angeles, CA
12/31/2020
Delicious! I followed the recipe exactly except for pulsing the chocolate (I put it in the freezer while I prepped everything else) and the almonds together in the food processor as mentioned by a couple reviewers. The dough was easy to work with, and the cookies were easy to slice. I did use an extra piece of parchment paper to help roll the dough into logs (I wrapped the parchment around the dough and rolled it back and forth on the counter). Beautiful combination of citrus, spice, and chocolate. I will definitely add this to my holiday cookie repertoire!
blackcurrant72
Utah
12/28/2020
These turned out amazing - followed the directions to a T. I loved the mix of spices and chocolate. I only wish I had doubled the recipe.
L and L
Albuquerque
12/27/2020