recipe reviews for:

Bones of the Dead

“This is my favorite cookie of all the ones my Nana made and taught me to make for the family. In her memory I share this recipe with you. My Grandmother Nancy (Saccuzzo) Gama made these for me every year until her death. Now, I make them in honor of her every year. You will enjoy these. Serve with wine or your favorite ice cream. They are also a great accent to a good cup of coffee.”

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Reviewed: Apr. 22, 2012

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.

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happyschmoopies

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Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Sidman, Pennsylvania, USA

Living In: High Point, North Carolina, USA

Reviewed: Apr. 18, 2012

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.

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apple.strudel

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Bakewell, Derbyshire, England, U.K.

Living In: Naperville, Illinois, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 24, 2010

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.

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Silverwing05

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Hartford, South Dakota, USA

Reviewed: Jun. 10, 2010

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.

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Tony L

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA

Reviewed: Feb. 12, 2009

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.

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Sadie

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Dec. 12, 2008

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)].

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Rachele

Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2008

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

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9 users found this review helpful

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melanie

Cooking Level: Beginning

Reviewed: Oct. 10, 2008

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.

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RABBITTZOSO

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Azusa, California, USA

Living In: North Port, Florida, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 4, 2007

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 :)

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19 users found this review helpful