Sabadoni cookies are sweet, rectangular-shaped tortelli filled with chestnuts and a handful of other ingredients. They are a typical sweet from the cucina povera of Romagna, which we can find under the same name or under that of chestnut tortelli in an area that also includes Bologna and Ferrara.

The name sabadoni comes from saba, the cooked grape must of Romagna origin, which is sometimes part of the filling, sometimes used only for brushing the surface, but always present.

That preparation dates back to a time when, in the countryside, sweets were mainly baked and eaten on the occasion of religious events or to celebrate special occasions using what one had at home. For this reason, the recipe varied according to the availability of ingredients.

This availability depended on the season and the economic possibilities of families.

It is always challenging to tell the story of a recipe from the cucina povera tradition. Peasant recipes have been passed down orally, and this produces two consequences. The first is that there are an almost infinite number of variations. The second is that sometimes, the memory of a specific preparation is entirely or partially lost.

Sabadoni cookies survive, although the recipe is less known than it once was. Many people confuse them with a version of sweet tortelli stuffed with chestnut cream (a thick and sugared jam you can buy everywhere).

The thing about old-fashioned sabadoni or chestnut tortelli is that you should make the base and filling from scratch.

This fall and winter treat was traditionally prepared from November to February. For some, it was typical of Christmas; for others, it was Carnival. In the small village of Massa Lombarda (Romagna), sabadoni cookies are the usual festive sweet in January during the celebration of the patron saint.

For me, they were the cookies of December, one of the sweet preparations that accompanied the anticipation of Christmas.

The memory has vague contours because they soon stopped being made. My mom also does not remember the exact composition of the filling. Still, we both remember baking them on the grill in the home tavern’s fireplace.

Dough and baking

Today, the shell is a shortcrust pastry is made with eggs, butter, and sugar. Still, considering its peasant and winter origin (when eggs were scarce), its poorer version was a dough made of water and flour. In Romagna, some people also used piadina dough. Of course, some added lard in the dough, which, before butter, was a widely used ingredient to make sweet and savory doughs more fragrant and tasty.

The way of closing sabadoni cookies changes from family to family: there is the traditional way as if it were tortelli pasta, the one that overlaps two flaps of shortcrust pastry (as I did); those who pinch the ends, leaving the center open with the filling in view; and, finally, those who close them in the shape of an ear of corn like the tortelli of Saint Lazarus, typical of the city of Faenza (Romagna) and of Lent and also sweet.

Some old cookbooks suggest different cooking methods: baked, boiled in water, fried, and cooked on the piadina text or over the grill in the fireplace. The latter method is typical of Romagna alone.

The filling

Count Giovanni Manzoni of Lugo, a gastronome who lived between 1800 and 1900, relates that, like for the dough, there was a filling for the poor and one for the rich.

The poor version of sabadoni cookies consisted of a filling of chestnuts, beans, and savor jam (made with mixed fruit and saba). In the Bolognese, mostarda has replaced the Romagna savor jam. In addition to boiled and mashed beans and dried chestnuts, the main components of the filling could include included also pumpkin pulp and quinces, breadcrumbs, or, alternatively, chestnut flour. Those who could add dried figs, raisins, and spices.

Cocoa is the newest flavor to join the list of filling ingredients.

After the cooking, some people brushed them in chestnut cooking water mixed with saba, and others soaked the cookies in saba for a few days (the last one is a lost habit).

Càpaltèz/Capellettacci

It is a typical variant you can find in a few villages around the Imola Apennines and widespread in the small towns of Tossignano, Fontanelice, Castel del Rio, Casalfiumanese, and Casola Valsenio. In this case, our cookies are not called sabadoni but cappelletti. They are ravioli with a filling of chestnut, spices, sweet mustard of Bologna, and bitter cocoa, and their peculiarity concerns the fact that they are eaten seasoned with oil, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese.

I shared with you a version where instead of Savor, I used mustard of Bologna (if you haven’t it on hand, I wrote a substitute among the ingredients), which I have been making at home for a few years now. If you haven’t saba, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Buona cucina, Monica

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Sabadoni cookies

Sabadoni cookies belong to the tradition of poor Italian cuisine and are typical of Romagna, Bologna, and Ferrara

Course After dinner, Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine Emilia-Romagna

Keyword Italian cookies, Sabadoni cookies

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 1

Overnight rest of filling and pastry 1

Equipment

immersion blender

Ingredients

Filling

300 g of dried chestnuts
80 g of aisins + 2 tablespoons rum
100 g of bolognese mustard or plum jam
100 g of bitter cocoa powder
100 g brown sugar

Dough

100 g of unsalted butter, cold from the refrigerator
300 g 00 flour + 200 g
1 pinch of salt
2 g of baking powder for cakes
200 g of powdered sugar
3 regular eggs
5 g of cognac or other liqueur

Instructions

Filling

The night before, soak the chestnuts in water at room temperature.
The next day, drain the chestnuts, rinse under running water, remove any skin from the chestnuts, and cook in hot water for one hour or until soft.
Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes to an hour to soften them, adding one or two tablespoons of rum.
Drain the chestnuts without throwing away the cooking water, which you must set aside.
Drain the raisins as well.
Place chestnuts in a bowl and add raisins and mustard of Bologna or plum jam.
Mix quickly with a metal spoon, then cream the mixture with the immersion blender, pulsing the button on and off. The filling is very thick, so this will prevent the immersion blender from overheating. Leave some little pieces of If chestnut in the dough.
Now, add to the chestnut cream sugar, cocoa, and grated lemon zest.
Mix using a metal spoon before kneading the mixture with your hands until it is soft, firm, and well blended.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for a few hours or, even better, overnight.

Dough

You can knead it on the cutting board or in the planetary mixer (I suggest to you the second way).
Cut butter into cubes and set aside.
In a bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Add eggs, cognac, and butter and knead until the mixture is soft and well blended. Add the rest of the flour, 200g, as you knead, a little at a time. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Assembling sabadoni cookies

Preheat oven to 180C (356F) degrees.
Roll out the dough into a 2-3mm thin sheet and cut rectangles measuring 12x10 cm (you can make them larger or smaller, you choose).
Place some filling in the center, lengthwise, and close by overlapping the two long sides. Seal the ends with the tines of a fork.
Mix the chestnut cooking water with a few tablespoons of saba or balsamic vinegar (or some drops of olive oil if you haven't saba or balsamic); brush the surface of the sabadoni cookies, and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the dough is lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Store in the cookie tin for 2-3 weeks.