"Lettere D'Amore" Cookies

Love letters are still one of the best ways to express our adoration for someone, and these precious “Lettere D’Amore” cookies fill all those boxes. Handcrafted - check. Expressive - check. Thoughtful - check. Delicious… okay, I guess that’s not usually part of a love letter, but maybe that’s what makes these even better!

The cookies are made from a traditional Italian sweet pastry dough called Pasta Frollo, then filled with homemade strawberry jam made from Hood Strawberries we picked at Sauvie Island Farms last year. Use whatever jam you have available, especially if you made it yourself. Homemade always shouts “I love you!”

INGREDIENTS

Sugar 200 g (1 cup)

Butter 200 g ( a little less than 2 sticks)

Flour 500 g (4 cups)

Eggs (2 eggs)

Lemon zest (1/2 lemon)

Orange zest (1/2 orange)

Strawberry jam (1 cup)

INSTRUCTIONS

Let the butter soften until it becomes malleable and easy to bend without cracking. Mix the butter and sugar till smooth then add the eggs, lemon and orange zest and keep mixing until the eggs are completely absorbed into the mix.

Add the flour a little at the time. When the mixture becomes too hard to mix with a fork, use your hands until you have used all the flour. Wrap the mix with wax paper or plastic wrap and let rest for 30 min in the fridge.Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Dust your work surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking and roll them one at the time with a rolling pin until a 1/4" thick.

Cut the rolled dough into 3" squares, put some strawberry jam in the middle of the square and fold three of the four angles to the center of the square.

Bake at 350 F for 15 min, then let cool.

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Blueberry Jam

When blueberries are in season it’s easy to simply eat them by the handful. But if you find yourself with an overabundance or just want to try something new, Sandro’s blueberry jam is easy to make, full of pure blueberry flavor, and fantastic on yogurt, granola, bread and butter, or a gelato like Fior di Latte. This year we sourced our blueberries from Our Table Cooperative and made this jam to pour over a silky peach gelato for a special flavor to raise money for Friends of the Children-Portland. If you find a new use for this versatile and loose jam, let us know!

Ingredients

1 lb blueberries

4 oz. sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

In a pan combine blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest and cook on low heat, stirring constantly.

Once the berry skins begin to split, pull off the heat and let cool. Finally, put into a food processor and store in jars in fridge or freezer.

Pinolo Lemonade

This fresh strawberry and elderflower lemonade captures spring in a glass. Both elderflowers and strawberries ripen at the same time, and fittingly enough they happen to be a match made in heaven. For this recipe you can make your own elderflower syrup using Sandro’s recipe here, or during the season (June) we make and bottle extra for our friends, which can be purchased on our website at Shop Pinolo.

Serves 4

4 Lemons

3 Tbsp Elderflower Syrup

Handful Diced Strawberries

2 c Sparkling Water

Squeeze lemons, add elderflower syrup and mix well. Toss in strawberries then pour into individual glasses. Add ice to glasses, pour sparkling water on top and stir well.

Pro Tip: If you like your lemonade on the sweet side then add sugar to the diced strawberries and let sit for 10 minutes until sugar melds with strawberries.

Elderflower Syrup

Elderflower syrup is versatile both in the kitchen and at the bar. From adding flavor to sparkling water, blending into a cocktail or even adding to cake frosting, it’s an easy recipe for harnessing the sweet floral essence of spring’s bounty.

For this recipe we suggest using the purple elderflower variety if possible. The purple flowers have a more intense smell and flavor than the white variety, which is more grassy.

Quick Tips: It’s important to collect the flowers in an area without pollution because it’s best to use the flowers without washing them. It’s also important that you collect flowers completely opened and before they start turning brown.

Ingredients:

Juice of 2 Lemons

500 g  (2 ½ cups) Sugar

500 g  (2 ½ cups) Water

5 big heads Elderflower (if you like a more intense flavor, just use more flowers)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 380 F.

Combine the water and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, it doesn’t need to boil.

Let the syrup sit for 10 min and in the meanwhile check if any insects are hiding in your elderflowers - they love them as much as we do!

Do not wash the flowers. Washing removes a lot of the aroma and flavor.

 If you’re using the purple elderflowers, add the 5 large flower heads to the warm syrup (stems, flowers and all).

If you’re using the white variety, then nearly double the flower heads (8 heads) and use only the flowers removing as many stems as you can. The green stems of the white flowers have a grassy smell that can give a bitter taste to the syrup.

Add the lemon juice, stir the syrup and be sure that all flowers are completely submerged, then cover the saucepan with a lid and let flowers infuse overnight.

In the morning strain the syrup through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth.

You can bottle the syrup and keep it for several months. I prefer to keep it in my freezer to better preserve the flavor but it will be fine if you refrigerate instead. You can also boil in lidded canning jars for five minutes,  then keep them in your cupboard and store in your fridge once opened. 

Bravo!

how to use the syrup:

During the summer, a fast and delicious use is to add ½ cup of elderflower syrup to a quart of water or sparkling water. It’s much healthier and better tasting than plain soda!

For a cocktail use, try it in your mimosa!

And for a cooking application, drizzle some on a homemade cake when it’s still warm or on pancakes.