għadam tal-mejti - Maltese Bone Cookies
You might think these are Halloween cookies, but this year we are skipping right over Halloween.
In Malta, All Saints Day and All Souls Day are a big deal. The small island nation has over 350 churches, the grand majority of which are Roman Catholic. All Saints Day is November 1 and is a day to remember the martyrs and saints in the Catholic canon. All Souls Day, which is recognized by many Christian denominations, is November 2 and is a day to remember and honour one’s ancestors and all departed souls of the world. It is believed that these days were chosen in an attempt to replace other festivals that predated Christianity, but still survive today in the present form, Halloween. On these days in Malta, people clean and decorate graves and pray for the dead. They also eat these cookies. Għadam tal-mejtin translates to “dead men’s bones” and is a popular treat. They can be found throughout November in bakeries around Malta.
The cookies themselves look complicated, and they are a little labour-intensive, but they are actually pretty easy to make. They consist of a sugar cookie dough wrapped around a “marrow” of almond paste and spices, shaped to look like a bone. The cookies are then glazed and topped with “grave dust,” aka almond meal. To simplify the process we bought ready-made marzipan. Feel free to customize the cookies by adding orange zest to the cookie dough or changing up the spices in the marrow. Cardamom would be delicious and it is a shame we did not have any in the Mackin House pantry.
Enjoy these with a cup of tea or coffee and a fond thought for your ancestors.
Looking for a vegan version? We found one here!
Ingredients
“Bone” cookie dough
4 cups flour
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
the zest of one lemon
pinch of salt
Marzipan “marrow”
200g marzipan
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground clove
Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 TBSP water
2-3 TBSP crushed almonds
Recipe
Prepare the dough: Mix together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, salt, and zest. Add the flour one cup at a time until the dough comes together. Divide into 24 equal portions.
Prepare the marzipan: Combine the marzipan, vanilla extract, and spices in a small bowl. Use your hands to knead everything together. Divide into 24 equal portions.
Assembly: Pat down the dough into an oval shape. Roll the marrow between your palms to create a short rope and place it in the middle of the dough. Roll the dough around the marrow, pinch together at each end, and use your fingers to shape the ends of the bones. Repeat with all 24 pieces.
Freeze: To help the cookies maintain their shape, freeze for at least two hours, but preferably overnight.
Bake: Preheat the oven to 450F. Bake the frozen cookies on a cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes and cool on the sheet for a minute before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. They will look underdone but will stay chewy when they are cool.
Glaze: Combine the powdered sugar and the water. Drizzle over the cooled cookies and top with ground almonds.
Recipe adapted from Global Table Adventure