Rame di Napoli are the soft cocoa-and-spice biscuits that Catania bakes for All Saints’ Day and the Day of the Dead. In this version each one gets a thin layer of Scyavuru Pistachio Cream 25% under a dark chocolate glaze, finished with chopped pistachios.

The dough is mixed in one bowl and needs no resting. Glaze the biscuits just before serving, or keep them plain in a tin. For another Sicilian pastry with the same cream, try the Cassatelle di Agira with Pistachio.

Difficulty: Easy
Course: Biscuits
Time: Prep 40 min · Bake 12 min · Set a few hours
Made with: Scyavuru Pistachio Cream 25%

Ingredients for rame di Napoli

For the biscuits

  • 250 g flour 00
  • 8 g baking powder
  • 50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 100 g sugar
  • 1 level tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground cloves
  • Grated zest of ½ unwaxed orange
  • 50 g butter, melted and cooled
  • 20 g acacia honey
  • 200 g whole milk

To finish

  • 50 g Scyavuru Pistachio Cream 25%
  • 150 g dark chocolate
  • 5 g butter
  • Chopped pistachios or pistachio flour

How to make rame di Napoli

  1. 1. Dough Sift the flour with the baking powder and cocoa, then stir in the sugar and spices. Add the orange zest, melted butter and honey, then the milk. Mix until soft and smooth; it should be much softer than shortcrust. It doesn’t need to rest.
  2. 2. Shape Drop 12 spoonfuls onto a lined tray, well apart, and smooth each one into an oval.
    Spooning cocoa dough onto a tray to form ovals
  3. 3. Bake Bake at 180 °C (static) for 12 minutes. Let them firm up on the tray for a few minutes; they’re very soft when hot.
  4. 4. Pistachio layer When they’re completely cool, spread a thin layer of Pistachio Cream over each one.
    Spreading pistachio cream over a cooled rame di napoli biscuit
  5. 5. Glaze Melt the chocolate (bain-marie, or microwave in short bursts, stirring), then stir in the butter for shine. Dip the top of each biscuit and set it on a rack.
    Dipping a biscuit into melted dark chocolate
  6. 6. Finish Sprinkle pistachios on straight away, then let the chocolate set for a few hours.

Tips

  • Once glazed, they keep for up to 3 days at room temperature, loosely covered, in a single layer.
  • Unglazed, they keep for about a month in a tin. Add the cream and chocolate just before serving.

Try it with…

Did you know?

  • They are also called “biscotti dei morti” (biscuits of the dead).
  • In the tradition, children receive them as a gift from relatives who have passed away.
  • There are three stories behind the name: a Neapolitan pastry chef; a Sicilian homage to Naples under the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; or a copper coin minted in Naples in 1816.
  • Smaller versions are called ramette.

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