Mezzalune di Marmellata
Half-moon Jam Biscotti
Last Saturday, 21st March was Harmony Day and this was celebrated at our little Freya’s Preschool with an afternoon tea. A little history on Harmony Day – it began in 1999 by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to celebrate the cohesive and inclusive nature of Australia and to promote tolerance and a culturally diverse society. The colour chosen to represent Harmony Day is orange.
All parents were invited to attend the afternoon tea and bring a plate of food (nut & egg free of course) that represented their country of origin. Hubby, Ben, and I were born in Australia, but we both have strong roots to our family’s heritage – Scottish for Ben and Italian for me. Therefore, we felt proud to choose a plate highlighting one of our culturally diverse backgrounds for the afternoon tea. Ben mentioned haggis, but we thought that might be suited for a lunch. More apparently, I suggested a beautiful Italian biscotto, popular at Easter time, which I had as a child called Mezzalune di Marmellata (half-moons with jam filling). The vote was unanimous so I baked these beautiful Italian biscotti for Harmony Day.
This biscotto is essentially a delicate pastry that encases lovely jam or nutella filling. For this particular recipe, I have used my own homemade fig jam/compote filling which I have in abundance. It is easy to make – please see my recipe for fig jam. However, if you want to save time just use whatever jam you have in your fridge. I highly recommend flavours of plum and/or strawberry and equally, nutella. These all taste amazing with the short sweet pastry. I substituted the family’s original firmer pastry recipe for a much softer one which I found in one of my favourite cookbooks ‘Mangia, Mangia Gatherings’ by Teresa Oates and Angela Villella. This cook book is rich in recipes from Calabria, Italy – which I’m familiar with growing up in a Calabrese kitchen. This cook book resembles my own family’s photo album of gatherings surrounded by traditional Calabrese fare.
You will be surprised at how easy it is to make this recipe in particular the pastry (and the fig jam/compote too). Harmony Day has passed but Easter is just around the corner, so serve these biscotti for dessert with coffee and tea to your family and friends – they will devour these scrumptious biscotti.
It’s a piece of cake – enjoy!
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