Mix the two kinds of flour with the yeast, and the butter with sugar. Add the raisins, previously soaked in warm water, the pine nuts, milk, grated lemon zest and vanilla, to make a stringing mixture.

With your hands, shape the mixture into small oval cakes about 3.2 inches long. Place them onto a lightly buttered baking sheet in a hot oven. Cooking time is generally 20-25 minutes, but it can vary according to the size of the “zaleti”.

Food History

Zaleti, a rustic type of cookie once served during the Carnival season, are now available year round. Like all rustic, farmhouse recipes, zaleti can be prepared in many ways. Each peasant wife had her own and would prepare the cookies using the ingredients she had available. The peculiar characteristic of these cookies in their yellow color, which is due to the corn flour – an ingredient present in all of the farmhouses in centuries past – used in the batter. Carlo Goldoni mentions the cookies in his 1749 book “La Buona Moglie” during an conversation between the main characters, one of which describes the zaleti as an inexpensive product, indirectly confirming its humble origins.

Did you know that...

These cookies are called zaleti due to their yellow color? “Zaleti” means “little yellow things” in the Veneto dialect.

Other suggested recipes

• Villafranca puff pastry small cakes
• Venetian style fried custard
• Walnut cake