Celli Ripieni: Jam biscuits and little birds

I love these little biscuits for so many reasons. First because they are basically little dumplings, filled with goodness. I love dumplings and I love cookies, so this is just a match made in heaven for me. Another reason I love these is that they are called “stuffed birds” because in one of the many traditional forms of these cookies from Abruzzo, they are made in the shape of little birds for the Festival of St Antonino in Aquila. Did I mention I love little birds too?

Yet another reason I love these is that they are traditionally made with a homemade grape jam that is not so much a recipe but something that, until recently anyway, the women of Abruzzese households seemed to learn how to do without notes or measurements. Just a way of life. This jam, known in dialect as scurchjiata or scrucchiata, is made from the local Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes and is not as sweet as a store-bought jam. I could not resist including a recipe for the jam, which I think should be treasured and passed around to those who have a passion for tradition! I have roughly translated from this beautiful post by a true casalinga from Abruzzo, which is the first time that any of the women in her family have ever written down their jam recipe.

The cookies are made with a filling of the scurchjiata, chopped walnuts and almonds, then flavoured with orange or lemon peel and sometimes even dark chocolate. Some recipes include a puree of chestnuts, or in the absence of it, chickpeas, and the addition of breadcrumbs, dried figs, coffee, cinnamon… each household have their own favourite combination of flavours.

This filling is then hidden inside a beautiful pastry of flour, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, sugar and eggs, and the whole things are baked and then covered in icing sugar.

They’re not meant to be too sweet, so taste and adjust a little to your liking but if the filling begins to taste a little sweet, you can add a squeeze of lemon juice to the mixture.

Just as traditions go, there are many variations on this recipe, but here’s a basic one that I like to use that I think allows just enough of the flavours to be brought out without being overwhelming:

For the scurchjiata:

  • Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes
  • Sugar

For the pastry:

  • 500 grams flour
  • 140 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 140 ml dry white wine
  • 2-3 tablespoons caster sugar
  • pinch of salt

For the filling:

  • 400 grams grape jam (preferably homemade)
  • 100 grams chopped, peeled almonds
  • orange or lemon rind (even both), grated
  • 5-6 dry, crushed plain biscuits

For the jam: there are no strict measurements here. One important thing you must do though is weigh the heavy-bottomed pot you’ll use to cook the jam in; you’ll see why later. Take your Montepulciano grapes, washed and picked, and (preferably in company with someone to chat with) separate the skins from the pulp. The skins can go directly into the pot while the pulp together with the seeds goes into a separate bowl.

The pulp at this point needs to be separated from the seeds and one of the best ways to do this is to push it through a sieve, adding the pulp then to the skins as you go. Heat the grapes until they begin to boil then lower the heat to a simmer until the volume of the jam is halved. Take off the heat and allow to cool completely (ideally, do this step at night and the next step the next morning).

Now re-weigh your pot with the jam in it to calculate the weight of the jam. You will need ¼ of the weight of the jam in sugar to add to the cooked grapes. If your grapes are already very sweet, you can add less, but the important thing is to use the ratio of the cooked grapes, not the uncooked grapes.

Return the pot to a boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer until the jam has halved in volume again. It’s now ready to use – spread it on bread or continue on to make the celli ripieni!

For the biscuits: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. For the pastry, mix all the ingredients together until you get a smooth, elastic dough. It’s a beautifully velvety pastry. Don’t over work it; when it comes together nicely just wrap it in some plastic wrap and let it rest while you prepare the filling.

Prepare all the ingredients for the filling, including chopping finely the nuts, crushing the biscuits and grating the citrus rinds. Warm the jam (if you’re using it cold) in a small saucepan on low heat and add it to all the other ingredients you’re using for the filling, except for the crushed biscuits. The biscuits (some like to use breadcrumbs instead or even in addition to the biscuits) are for adding to the mixture to make it firmer and thicker, in the case that the jam mixture is too liquid. You want to be able to take  spoonfuls of it that don’t slide off the spoon.

Roll out the pastry to a few millimetres thick and cut it into squares of about 10cm each side. Place a teaspoonful of the jam mixture into the centre of each pastry square and fold over the pastry to create a triangle, then bring the two outer angles together to create a horseshoe-type shape, pressing down on the edges to seal them – essentially these are made like tortellini or wontons. The pastry tends to shrink when it bakes so make sure you have plenty of pastry  (don’t fill them too much!) and that you seal them well so they don’t open while cooking.

Arrange them on a cookie sheet, greased and covered with baking paper, and bake until they are lightly golden. When they are cool, dust them with icing sugar and eat them with a nice little cup of espresso!

Comments

  1. Coco says:

    Such a spell you weave … I am enchanted by these little birds — and by your beautiful site.

  2. roberta piergiovanni says:

    I have been looking for this recipe for ages. My mother-in-law who was from Chieti in Abruzzo Italy made them for Christmas and her sons loved them. She baked them and she used a filling of home made apple butter, ground nuts and 1 T sugar to taste which she cooked. Nobody knew how to make the dough. I have tried for years to replicate her dough or to find this recipe s with out much success. So I would like to hank you for this posting. I am planning on making them for the Abruzzi men in my life… for the holidays.

    • Emiko says:

      I’m so glad. I hope you find this dough recipe lives up to your mother-in-law’s version! It’s an incredible dough recipe for filled cookies as it can be quite thin but it is elastic and remains beautifully crunchy when baked. Hopefully the Abruzzesi enjoy it!

      • Tom Melchiorre says:

        I remember these cookies!! I remember my aunt , from provinc’ chieti, making these for my dad,her brother. Her Abruzzesi treats were always so good. I try every holiday to make her treats. My family think they are the best, I accept their praise knowing that mine can not compare to my dear Grand mother and aunt’s !!!
        Tom Melchiorre

  3. Richard DeBlasio says:

    Oh my goodness, i am so happy to have found this recipe! My nonna used to make these all the time
    And to have a chance to carry on the tradition makes me very happy. Thank you!!
    much jam do I add to the other filling ingredients?

    • Emiko says:

      Hello Richard, I’m so glad that you’re glad! It is a very traditional recipe. I’m not sure I understand your question – the jam required for the filling is 400 grams. Hope that helps!

  4. connie says:

    My mother and aunts used to make these all the time. They are delicious, the only thing that’s different is that we shape the dough to look like actual birds. We have a great time making different style birds, and sometimes they look almost like prehistoric birds, but at any rate they are delicious!

  5. what is metric conversion

  6. Roberta says:

    Hello Emiko, In your wording above the recipe you mention that the pastry contains eggs. Yet in the actual pasty recipe there are no eggs mentioned?

    • Emiko Davies says:

      Sorry for the confusion, Roberta, the pastry can be made with or without eggs. But the traditional recipe is without an egg — the wine and oil make enough enough liquid to make a smooth, lovely dough. If you find it difficult to work with or if you prefer, you can add an egg and then you may have to adjust the flour slightly to fit it in!

  7. Carina says:

    hi Emiko
    Thank you for posting this! I have been looking all over for the receipt, can’t believe I’ve found one!

    I’m hoping you might be able to give me a rough idea how many uncooked grapes I would need to produce at least 400grams of Jam? Here in Australia – finding wine grapes (let alone Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes) is pretty hard to find. So I want to make sure I buy enough!

    Thanks so much

    • Emiko Davies says:

      Hi Carina, you’ll need about 2 kilos of grapes for this amount of jam (you can see my recipe for it here: https://food52.com/recipes/31155-sugarfree-grape-jam-scrucchiata)! Use preferably red wine grapes — not sure where abouts you are in Australia but I have had luck using moscato grapes, which I have often found in farmers markets in Canberra and Sydney or in specialty food shops or the Prahran markets in Melbourne, or by talking to some winemaker friends! Keep in mind that grape season is summer (especially late summer) so you’ll have better luck finding these kind of grapes this time of year. Red table grapes I don’t think will work very well, but I think that a good substitute would be fig jam. Good luck!

  8. Aprili says:

    My Celli Ripieni’s keep leaking. I have tried different methods of sealing them. All 3 times they leaked in the oven. I am frustrated I have finally found the right combo of ingredients but they still leak. Any suggestions??

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