CiCi’s Handmade Italian Butterhorns

by Anne Paddock

When I was in high school, I would often go to my friend Amy’s house over the holidays where her extended family would celebrate the end of a meal with a table full of Italian pastries and cookies. At my house, most cookies came in a bag so the sight of a whole table piled high with every conceivable type of handmade Italian cookie was a dream come true. Amy’s Aunt Cookie was primarily responsible for that dedicated table and she was infamous among her relatives (and friends) for her homemade cookies: Italian Wedding, Wandi, Pignoli, Struffoli, and more.

Through the years, I have often visited local Italian bakeries but none of the cookies were like the cookies I remembered from childhood. Then one day, I received a bag of CiCi’s Handmade Italian Butterhorn cookies and I was instantly taken back to the late 1970’s and memories of Aunt Cookie. CiCi’s Handmade Italian Butterhorns are hand rolled Italian butter cookies made from a light buttery dough filled with cinnamon, sugar, and walnuts. Moist and buttery with a nutty sweet flavor on the inside and a flaky crust, butterhorns melt in your mouth the way a cookie is supposed to.

CiCi’s Handmade Italian Butterhorns are made by Christine Falatico Frey who grew up in California but would often visit her grandparents in Utica, New York where her Nana Julie would teach her to make butterhorns: the secret of which is in the pure ingredients and the rolling of the dough. Years passed by and as Christine raised her own family, she continued to make butterhorns which led her to start her own business making CiCi’s Handmade Italian Butterhorns.

CiCi’s Butterhorns are made with seven ingredients: unbleached flour, salted butter, sour cream, egg yolk, sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. The cookies are packaged eight to a bag and are delicious with a cup of coffee or tea, as a snack, and are especially good for dessert after dinner. Priced at $8.99 per bag plus shipping, the cookies can be ordered directly from the company website listed below. Consider ordering 3 bags or more (they last for more than a month in an airtight bag) to save on shipping and because one bag is simply not enough!