The Dying Art of Sardinian Biscuit Making

Text and photos by Katherine Patane

Sardinia, a small island off the coast of Italy, has long been known for its beauty, with pink sand, roaming sheep and hills that blend into the horizon. Most visitors, if not all, at some point during their stay, have ventured in search of a Sardinian beverage and snack. For centuries, the snack was a sweet pastry or biscuit made by traditional Sardinian biscuit makers: Amaretti or papassini or formagelli or corona or ciambelli.

 Knowledge passed down from mother to daughter (or son) resulted in the creation of biscuits or sweet pastries that made any trip to Sardinia memorable. Round almond-based biscuits with a soft crumbly texture called amaretti were firm favorites with coffee, whilst harder diamond-shaped biscuits called papassini were often accompanied by a sweet liqueur. Whatever the type, Sardinian biscuits were plentiful in Sardinian households, and it was those same households that supplied roadside home stores, festivals or agriturismo accommodations. Sardinian children living away from their families talked about the biscuits or even dreamed about them.

 Daughters (and sometimes sons) spent unforgettable hours of their childhood watching, learning, copying and perfecting biscuit recipes passed down from their mothers. They had joyous recollections of biscuit making, more vividly and nostalgically recalled than memories of playing, eating, grocery shopping or sewing.

 Biscuit making was known as a time when women would meet and talk, or cry and share information about their lives. Children would run freely and play, with the hope of a sweet treat if they behaved. Problems were shared and relationships were forged. The kitchen table, whether in a traditional “pinetta” (pine house) or a more modern home, became akin to a coffee shop for those who had mouths to feed and children to watch, whilst husbands went to work. Laughter and gossip were plentiful. The aroma of sugar enveloped the room as flour was molded underneath hardworking hands.  And wood-fired ovens crackled in the background complimenting the din of friendly chatter.

 Each family had their own recipe too, and often the ingredients were the subject of great debate at the “female” end of large rectangular wooden tables found at Italian lunch hours. Sardinian biscuits were less expensive to make at home than the equivalent store-bought offerings because the main ingredients were picked from local trees, in the case of almonds for amaretti, or sourced from the local pastore (shepherd), in the case of milk for formagelli.

 Furthermore, over time, each family developed its own method of dividing up the tasks for production of the various types of biscuit. One sister would tend to the fire, one sister would deal only with the flour production, whilst another member of the family would be responsible for the shaping and design of the finished product. It was magical to watch. Sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, daughters (and sometimes sons) working in unison as if they were all one arm of the same machine—the “biscuit making” machine—while chatting and bonding to their heart’s content.

With great pleasure, for years, Sardinian families sat around the table at mealtimes and devoured the biscuits fatto in casa (made at home) after several courses of traditional Sardinian fare. Whether it be Christmas, Easter, All Saints’ Day, a birthday, a wedding, a baptism, homemade biscuits were always on the table.

Constant comparisons were made with modern offerings available in supermarkets. Such offerings were scorned, and it was common to hear someone muttering that any biscuit not made at home was inferior and not as good as those made by Mama or Nonna or Zia. Sardinians knew how these delights should taste and feel and even made their own conclusions about which family made them best.

 Then times changed.

 Totally overwhelmed by modern living and the spiralling costs of providing for a family, women chose to work or had larger workloads and were less often at home or able to spend the precious hours making Sardinian biscuits. The time spent in the kitchen was replaced by different pastimes, such as shopping or traveling abroad. The cost of living meant that Italian families, not just Sardinian ones, were having fewer children and traditional ways of life were either being shunned as outdated or outmoded or just not the preferred way to live. Time was no longer spent tending sheep upon a mountaintop or watering gardens and almond trees. Children no longer wanted to watch, learn and follow recipes when cheaper alternatives could be purchased at large supermarkets or local pasticceria (pastry shops).

 Substitute biscuits not made at home used ingredients that were no longer true to the traditional recipes. Amaretti for example, were bulked with almond essence instead of real almonds; formagelli were filled with cow and sheep milk mixtures. Replacement ingredients were cheaper and more profitable. Alternatively, some ingredients were left out altogether due to their short supply or higher purchase cost. The new generation of Sardinian people did not seem to notice. Or if they did, they were unable to do anything about it.

As a new millennium came and passed, the homemade biscuits that were always found in the larder of a Sardinian home became less frequent. Today, biscuit offerings are always made on All Saints’ Day as a gift for loved ones who have left the earth and some families still make them on “very special” occasions. However, the Mothers and Grandmothers who made them are now finding it difficult to tend the fires and knead the dough. The daughters and sons have less time on their hands. Instead, pastry shops have queues forming around the block. Locals, and tourists alike line up for the delectable treats, that were once made in the family home.

Recipes passed from generation to generation have been used less and less, and sadly traditional Sardinian biscuit makers have been taking the art form with them, to their life beyond. Yet, strangely, during the past six months, when workplaces have been closed due to the covid-19 virus and time has been plentiful, gossip abounds that children have secretly asked for their favorite recipes. Stuck indoors with little to do, a new set of mothers and fathers in Sardinia and all over the world have been experimenting.

Electric ovens have replaced fires, and imaginations have replaced ingredients. Families have come together in kitchens: cutting, measuring, weighing and laughing.

The love of Sardinian biscuit-making has been rekindled; it’s a step in the right direction. The fire that once made those biscuits is now re-ignited in the hearts of the new generation. It must be kept blazing. So next time you want to bake, give it a try; go see for yourself what the love is all about.