Torta Sbrisolona

Are those strawberries mixed into the cookie dough?

I saw the notes about using two egg yolks but thought, if that were necessary, surely the recipe would have been changed. Wrong. The commenters are right.

I searched sbrisolona to confirm the spelling, not for a recipe. I have a recipe from our host in Mantua that is similar. A post asked about the need for a food processor. My recipe instructs us to use our hands to mix the ingredients until crumbly, then press into the pan. And, yes, two egg yolks. My recipe calls for lemon zest and vanilla, but doesn’t say how much, as well as a pinch of salt. :) Also, corn flour, which I bought just for this recipe. It’s much finer. They are really good.

I am generally a huge fan of Dorie's cookies but these were pretty gross. I used a medium-grind cornmeal which resulted in an unpleasant texture. After 55 minutes of baking my cookies never became "deeply golden brown." The almonds would have benefited (both visually and flavor-wise) by being toasted before baking. The cookies are not like shortbread, they are hard. They are not sweet enough. Also impossible to cool on a rack!

I reversed the almond flour and regular flour proportions, used 2 egg yolks, added a couple of drops of orange peel oil, and dried orange-infused cranberries. It needed a bit more time in the oven but it was fantastic and has entered a regular rotation.

I am excited to have found this recipe but I will add orange blossom water like one of my favorite bakeries does. Adds an otherworldly flavor - a whisper of the past.

easy, not too sweet, pleasantly gritty/sandy texture. i pressed in too hard in the pan. it held together but i would try compacting less next time.

If some of us do not have a food processor, what should one do?

I used two yolks and it was still too crumbly... like more a pie crust/crumble than a cookie. It will be excellent on yogurt.

Absolutely delicious! Great texture, and not too sweet. Don’t understand the problems other people had with the crumbly texture, perhaps they should weigh flour or at the very least spoon it into measuring cup. I will keep this recipe in my repertoire!

This sounded like it would be great with jam and sure enough, there are recipes... put 2/3 - 3/4 of the dough in a 9” springform pan, spread a thin layer of jam (I used homemade rhubarb), put the rest of the dough on top. Baked & cut in wedges. Now I have to bake this all the time.

My Nonna from Mantova made this for us. Her recipe did not have eggs, relying on flour, corn meal and crisco to hold it all together. She would add ground hazelnuts or almonds. So good.

Btw, sbrisolona means crumbly in Italian. It’s supposed to crumble, and is delicious with a cup of espresso.

I added candied ginger to this, then put it on top of a layer of sliced peaches in an 8” pan. Sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar on the peaches, then put dough on top. Delicious.

Made a half batch, added cardamom, peppercorns, galangal. Used peanuts vs almonds and one egg white, because that’s what I had on hand, plus 1.5 teaspoons of olive oil to add fat missing from yolk. Lots of flavor potential. Could go with coconut, pistachio, dried fruit of any kind .... Would be great crunch layer or base with chestnut, almond or raspberry mousse on top or layered in between. Or with feta and vanilla cream filling. Crush and serve on top of ice cream. Wonderful technique.