Mustazzoli

Biscuits

Mustazzoli, or mostaccioli, are typical Sicilian biscuits spread throughout Sicily, prepared in particular for the Christmas holidays.
The same name indicates two types of biscuits with different appearance and recipe depending on the area of ​​Sicily in which they are made.
The Mustazzoli typical of the Palermo area and Western Sicily are dry cooked wine biscuits decorated with sesame, those produced in the Catania and eastern Sicily are biscuits in the shape of an S made of honey paste with a rich filling inside. There are several versions of the Catania mustazzoli which differ from each other fundamentally in the type of filling.
The Mustazzoli cooked in cooked wine are stuffed with a mixture based on cooked wine and minced almonds and perfumed with cinnamon and orange peel.
The Mustazzoli with honey in which the cooked wine is replaced by milk in the dough.
The name of this dessert does not refer to the cooked must present in the filling, but to the word "mustaceum", i.e. a sweet focaccia that was prepared wrapped in mustace leaves, a plant similar to laurel, mentioned by Pliny in his "natural history" and which was traditional in wedding celebrations and during the Saturn festivals already in the Roman period.
Biscuits very similar to the Mustazzoli of Eastern Sicily are the Nucatoli, also biscuits with shape of them with a filling based on cooked wine. These are traditionally covered with icing sugar.