These cookies, in form of mini donuts, have two main benefits: first they are light (no butter, no oil, just 3 gr of sugar for each egg), second they are a riddle, and can be interpreted in a number of ways.

Let’s read the recipe first (english translation below, from the author of this blog):

A FARE BOZOLATI DE MONAGE

(Ricetta n. 128 da Libro per cuoco, di Anonimo veneziano, fine del XIV secolo)

Toy ove sbatute molto bene e un pocho de sale, tuo’ tante ova quante tu voy e con questa fior de farina che tu voy fane i diti, o impasta chon queste ova batute senza altra aqua. Se tu voy del mele, per ogni dexe ove vol un bon chosselier de mele, se tu ne vole col zucharo per ogni dexe ove un’onza de zucharo. Voleno essere molto domati e fati subitamente e abi a mente che i voleno esser cocti subito, perché non pigliasse vento, né sole, che subito se guastano. Vole esser cocto chon el testo che non foge i bozoladi; cossì com’ fosse onta; fala ben netta, se la fosse onta.

Take very well beaten eggs and a little salt and more flour, knead and make donuts, without adding water. If you want to use honey to sweeten them, add one tablespoon for every 10 eggs; if you want to use sugar, for every 10 eggs it takes about 30 grams. The dough must be worked for a long time and the donuts must then be made quickly and cooked immediately, preventing them from getting air or sun, because in this case they would break down. They should be cooked in a container that does not heat them too much and you have to cook them while you continue to make them and make sure that the pan does not be greased and, if greasy, clean it well.

I am on a zero carb diet, it is the middle of the summer in Buenos Aires, so I did not try this recipe, that by the way is a bit of a riddle because for a “biscuit” we would expect more fat (or, at least, some fat) and for a merinque we would expect much more sugar. Yet, my mum, from the italian winter, has been working on the recipe for a few days, and she came out with this very satisfactory balance of ingredients, that respects the original recipe and gives “life” to it. I rather enjoyed sharing with her the emotion of taking a “dead” manuscript and turning in…a delicate treat!