Bones of the Dead

Soooo good! These cookies are crunchy on the outside and cake-like on the inside and so easy to make! NOTE: They have to rise overnight, so plan ahead!

These are great! I like simple treats like biscotti, etc. and this is really easy! Not sticky at all as said in one of the reviews - maybe they got the ratio wrong - my dough was nice and dry and a cinch to roll! I added a bit of nutmeg too :)

I've been searching for a recipe that my mom called taralli. they were hard cookies that were not too sweet and lasted a long time. she rolled them between her hands and then formed circles and baked them. your cookies are the closest i've come to duplicating them. thank you.

I did not care for these. They were very sticky. How do you roll the mess into little balls I would like to know. The ground cloves is an odd taste for a cookie.

My Sicilian father had remembered about this type of cookie during Christmas, while talking about the family members we missed. After a quick search I found your recipe. He was very surprised and enjoyed them. It turns out that I found others who know of this cookie and I got two thumbs up. I'm glad you shared your cookie recipe.

This is one of the best cookie recipes I've ever tried. It's not too sweet, the texture is great( crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside). A perfect addition to coffee. Using orange extract instead of almond also works well with this cookie.

i made them twice, and they are not sticky...

This was an absolutely delicious recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it!

These cookies are more work than they're worth. They're not bad, but the overnight wait just isn't worth it. Plus, the batter is horrendously sticky and gloms onto the tea towel, making a big mess. The flavour is rather delicate. I think added cinnamon might make them tastier.

Loved this , easy for the kids and fun to eat. Thanks

The first time I made these I used Large eggs and my dough was very sticky and I had to add extra flour and sugar. The second time I used Medium eggs and the batter was much better. For those who have had trouble with sticky batter try using smaller eggs. I dust my cookies with powdered sugar when finished. They are great with coffee! I also want to note that there are several different versions of this cookie. Each version developed in different parts of Italy.

Okay, I thought my crazy gramma made up deadbones until I found this recipe! These are fantastic! I tripled the almond extract and added a tbsp of mexican vanilla to really vamp up the flavour, then dusted the finished cookies with powdered sugar and served them with a raspberry sauce for dipping. They were a real hit, everyone loved the morbid name. The only problem was the dough was really sticky, but I just coated the baking sheet and my hands with flour and it worked fine. I probably ended up kneading in an extra 1/2 cup flour.

I followed the recipe exactly but these just did not work out for me. I expected these to be light and melt on the tongue but they were the total opposite. They were so heavy, and the taste not something that I found appealing at all.

I had the same problem with the dough turning into a gooey mess. I ended up adding more flour and powdered sugar to help get to a consistency I could work with. Then end result lived up to the name - hard as a bone! The taste left a lot to be desired. The ground cloves in the dough was too much even after all the extra flour. I definitely won't be making this again.

After replacing the almond extract with 1 tsp of vanilla and a pinch of cinnamon, your Bones of the Dead are the closest things I've come to my Nonno's Ossi dei Morti, good job & thanks! [Random: I think it's funny how I was looking up Christmas Cookie Recipes and found this (for it being a cookie normally made in the Harvest/Halloween time of year)].

Made this recipe with Spelt flour instead of all-purpose flour. Using spelt flour means increasing the amount used. I used 3 1/2 Cups. Overall, I loved how it turned out, however, wife felt it was a little dry and hard for her taste.

My Sicilian Sister-in-law used to make these shaped in 'bone' shapes or fingers.....making them look like 'bones of the dead'.

I followed the recipe to the letter and unfortunately we didn't care for these at all. They were very easy to make, but, a lot of wait time for the end result. I like the taste of cloves and thought the flavor profile of cloves and almond would be good together. The clove taste seemed overwhelming for our palate and left a lingering aftertaste. Would not make again.

A little bland, but better with icing.

I made this according to the recipe and followed some of the suggestions of others who found it too sticky. I coated my hands with butter before rolling it into small balls, placed the balls on a well-greased pan, and dampened the tea towel before placing i over the cookies. I have found this method to work well for bread dough left to rise. HOWEVER, it did not work at all for this recipe. The towels stuck to the cookies so badly that I lost half of the batter. I scraped off what I could and then threw the towels away. I couldn't deal with washing away that much batter. If I were ever to make it again (doubtful but possible) I would do several things differently: First, I would use a lot less of the ground cloves and balance the flavoring with vanilla or orange or something soothing. Cloves are an odd flavor for cookies, and this was way too strong. Second, instead of rolling the batter into balls I would roll them into tiny logs. This way they would come out in the oval shape pictured instead of round. Third, I would cover the pans with waxed paper for the rising period. Hopefully they would not stick as much. And Fourth, I would really really really grease the pans. This time I had sprayed with cooking spray and then smeared a thin coating of butter as well. It was very difficult to remove the finished cookies from the pan. It sounded like a great recipe, but I agree with those who suggest it is a less than satisfactory project.