Meet the Cappuccio family—and their old-world Italian cookie recipe that’s been coveted for decades.
Raffaella “Phyllis” Cappuccio’s family grew up on her cinnamon twirl cookies, but having never made them, they had no clue how the cookies got their magic. The matriarch of this big Boston-area brood has served the slightly crispy, not-too-sweet bites by the dozens for decades using a recipe that lived only in her head and was prepared only by her hands.
“My mom makes huge batches,” says daughter Linda Doherty. “As we grew up, they were on our table like other people had Chips Ahoy.”
Recently, the family came together for a little baking instruction to learn everything from the ingredients to the technique – even writing it down on paper for the very first time so it could be passed down to future generations. Phyllis and daughters Linda, Lena McCauley and Julie Mattar got to work in the kitchen with a few helpful assists from Phyllis’ husband, Aldo, and granddaughter, Madison Doherty.
Get the full recipe for Cinnamon Twirl Cookies.
For Phyllis, the cinnamon twirl dough glides effortlessly from mixing bowl to baking board to cookie sheet. She rolls out the chilled dough on the well-used baking board handed down from her mother-in-law, sprinkles it with cinnamon filling, slices it gently into wedges using her scalloped-edge pastry wheel and quickly rolls it up with a flick of the wrist. In just minutes, a full cookie sheet is ready to go into the oven.
Next it’s time for her daughters to try. Phyllis is a patient teacher, showing each daughter in turn exactly how it’s done, laughing and joking as they ask questions and attempt her signature rolling technique. As Phyllis’ daughters soon discover, making Mom’s famous cookies is nowhere near as easy as she makes it look.
Lena, Julie and Linda all do their best and study their mom’s every move, but quickly realize they’ll need a lot more practice to make them just like Phyllis.
“No one can roll them like her,” Lena says after multiple tries.
NEXT PAGE
ADVERTISEMENT
