My Italian holidays with relatives always included an abundance of Italian cookies and pastries. This cookie is like all of those treats distilled into one perfect specimen.
Spumoni Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups 6 sticks butter
- 4 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 whole eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 teaspoons almond extract
- 4 cups chocolate chips
- 4 cups pistachios
- 4 cups dried sour cherries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or use silicone baking mats.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a larger bowl cream together butter and sugars. Add in eggs and egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract and mix. Fold flour into butter mixture, and once it’s fully combined, stir in the chocolate chips, pistachios, and cherries.
- Scoop up about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll in the palm of your hand to form a ball. Place on baking sheet and repeat, spacing the balls about an inch apart from each other until you have used up all the dough.
- Bake 18–20 minutes or until slightly brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and place cookies on racks to cool.

Sara Calvosa Olson is a Karuk writer living with her soulmate, raising two large teenage sons. She has a regular column in News From Native California that explores California Indian foodways and reconnection to traditional Indigenous ingredients. Chími nu’am! (Let’s eat!)