Italian bakers make a handful of cookies around November 2, and they don't all behave the same way. Some are hard enough to dunk, one is dense and fruity, and one stays soft. Your choice comes down to texture and how far ahead you want to bake.
This roundup covers four: two hard almond cookies, a spiced Milanese fruit cookie, and a soft bean-shaped almond cookie. Each one has its own character, so you can bake one for a quiet coffee or a few for a full dessert plate.
If you're baking for the holiday itself, start with the cookies that keep well in a tin and save the soft ones for the last few days.
Choosing what to make
Texture is the main difference. Ossi dei morti and Oss de Mòrd di Lanzada are both hard almond cookies, but the Lanzada version adds a second bake with the oven off for extra dryness. Pan dei morti is the moist, fruit-and-spice option, built on amaretti, figs, and raisins. Fave dei morti are the softest and most delicate, with lemon and cinnamon. For make-ahead baking, the two hard cookies keep for weeks, pan dei morti keeps about a week, and fave dei morti dough can be frozen.
1. Ossi dei Morti: Hard Almond Cookies for All Souls’ Day
Ossi dei morti are the most straightforward hard cookie in this group. The dough is ground almonds, flour, sugar, and egg whites, with no butter or oil, so it bakes dry and snaps cleanly. It's stiff, closer to marzipan than cookie dough, and you shape it by hand into short logs with notched ends. Bake low and slow at 150 C / 300 F for 35 minutes, and look for a matte surface and a lightly golden base. Pull them early and the centers stay chewy. Choose this one when you want a make-ahead cookie built for dunking, since it keeps about three weeks in a tin.
Set them out with small glasses of vin santo or cups of hot espresso so guests can dunk. Store them in a tin from the start so you can bake days ahead.
Get the Ossi dei Morti: Hard Almond Cookies for All Souls’ Day recipe
2. Oss de Mòrd di Lanzada: Valtellina’s Hard Almond Cookies
Oss de Mòrd di Lanzada come from a small village in Valtellina, in Lombardy, and the dialect name roughly means bones to bite. The dough is light and egg-white based, made with toasted almonds, sugar, and flour, with no butter or leavening. What sets it apart is the double bake. The second bake happens with the oven off and the door cracked, and it's the step most people skip. Skip it and you get a soft almond cookie. Do it properly and you get a bone-hard bite that only firms up in the tin. Pick this when you want a regional take on the hard cookie.
Serve them with a small glass of sweet wine or a strong coffee, and plan on dunking. They're best a few days after baking, once they've hardened fully.
Get the Oss de Mòrd di Lanzada: Valtellina’s Hard Almond Cookies recipe
3. Pan dei Morti: Milanese Spiced Cookies with Figs
Pan dei morti is the odd one out here: a dense, spiced Milanese cookie rather than a pure almond one. Crushed amaretti, dried figs, raisins plumped in Marsala, and chopped almonds are held together with a little flour and egg. The texture is closer to a spiced fruitcake bar than anything yeasted, moist and chewy. It's a good way to use up pantry dried fruit, and you only need two bowls, a wooden spoon, and your hands. If the dough turns crumbly, a splash more Marsala fixes it. Keep these five to seven days, and they taste better with age.
Cut or serve them alongside coffee, or pair them with a small glass of Marsala. They suit a dessert plate next to the crisper almond cookies.
Get the Pan dei Morti: Milanese Spiced Cookies with Figs recipe
4. Soft Almond Fave dei Morti Cookies for Fall
Fave dei morti are the soft option. Finely ground blanched almond flour gives a pale, marzipan-like crumb, while lemon zest and cinnamon keep the flavor bright and warm. The cookies are shaped into little flattened beans and dusted with powdered sugar. Rest the dough for 15 minutes so it rolls without sticking to your palms, then pull the cookies the moment the edges turn gold. If the tops brown, they bake dry instead of staying soft in the center. The dough is freezer-friendly, which helps when you're spreading out holiday baking. Choose these for guests who don't want a hard cookie.
Dust them with powdered sugar just before serving and offer them with coffee or tea. Freeze the shaped dough if you want to bake a fresh batch closer to the day.
Get the Soft Almond Fave dei Morti Cookies for Fall recipe
Planning your menu
- Bake the hard cookies first. Ossi dei morti and Oss de Mòrd di Lanzada keep for weeks in a tin and only get harder.
- Make the pan dei morti a few days ahead. It keeps five to seven days and tastes better with age.
- Freeze the fave dei morti dough, then bake it closer to November 2 so the cookies stay soft.
- Plan your drinks around the cookies: espresso or vin santo for the hard ones, Marsala or coffee for pan dei morti.
- Offer one hard cookie and one soft cookie on the same plate so guests can choose the texture they like.
For a simple All Souls' Day plate, put one hard cookie, the pan dei morti, and the fave dei morti together with espresso and a small pour of vin santo. Bake the hard cookies and pan dei morti first, then finish with the soft fave a day or two before serving.