A Family Tradition: Rich Filled Cookies “Celli Pieni”

Do you love a good story? Do you love family history? Then I have one for you.

In my family, cookies aren’t just desserts—they’re heirlooms. Many of our favorite cookies have been passed down through generations, from great-grandmother to grandmother, to mother, to daughter and son. I’ve already shared two of our beloved classics—Pecan Tassies and Butter Horns—but today, it’s all about one that’s closest to my heart: Rich Filled Cookies, or as my Italian ancestors called them, Celli Pieni.

These cookies were my dad’s favorite, and the women in my family have been baking them for over 150 years. The recipe has been passed down from mother to daughter on my maternal grandmother’s side since around 1850, beginning with Felicia Sachetta of Bomba, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. A warm thank you to my sister Donna, if not for her beautiful memories of all things past I would never have been able to recreate this story.

The Back Story

My mother’s parents immigrated from the small mountain town of Bomba, Abruzzo to the United States on February 10, 1921, 

bringing with them many cherished regional traditions—especially their cookies.

There were two in particular:

Calciunetti (“pant leg”), a fried cookie made with flour, wine, olive oil, sugar, salt, and egg. Its filling was a fragrant blend of chestnuts, walnuts, cinnamon, mosto (grape must), and grated orange peel. Celli Pieni, a baked cookie with a similar dough but a richer filling of grape jam (mosto), cinnamon, almonds, cocoa, orange zest, sugar, grated dark chocolate, and a touch of rum or espresso. The dough was folded over the filling into a crescent shape, rolled in sugar, and baked to golden perfection.

When my grandfather made his homemade wine each August or September, my grandmother would take some of the freshly pressed Concord grapes to prepare her mosto for Celli Pieni. Those cookies were her pride—and the start of a sweet legacy.

Rachel’s Twist on Tradition

Years later, my mom, Rachel, loved her mother’s cookies but felt the original dough was too dry. A passionate cook and hostess, she began searching for the perfect dough. Among her well-worn cookbooks—“Woman’s Home Companion” (1946) and “Good Housekeeping” (1955)—she discovered a recipe for Rich Filled Cookies. She borrowed the dough from that recipe, paired it with her mother’s traditional filling, and created what we now know and love as Rachel’s Rich Filled Cookies.

A Legacy of Love (and Cookies)

For more than 50 years, our family has celebrated life’s moments with trays of Rachel’s cookies—weddings, birthdays, holidays, picnics, even funerals. They’ve been part of our family’s sweetest memories.

When my mother catered events, these cookies always made an appearance. Later, when I began catering under the name “The Cookie Jar,” she and my sister (when she was home for a visit) would join me in the kitchen. No matter the occasion or the chaos, one thing remained constant: the cookies—the same seven mainstays we’ve baked for generations.

They are more than recipes; they are love stories written in flour, sugar, and memory.

Butter Horns – #2 in the series

Pecan Tassies

Over the years, I’ve shared stories of our family cookies — starting with two beloved classics, Butterhorns and Pecan Tassies. This year, I’m adding another treasured recipe to the mix: Rich Filled Cookies.

The remaining cookies — Date-Nut Pinwheels, Peanut Blossoms, Butter Balls, and Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies — will make their way here soon. But today, it’s all about one of my mom’s favorites.

A Delicate Dough and a Mother’s Twist

The dough for these cookies is wonderfully tender — so delicate, in fact, that my mom decided years ago to change the shape from a traditional crescent to a simple round cookie. Her reasoning? “Who has the patience for pretty?” she’d say. My sister Donna inherited the gift for beautiful cookies; mine fall somewhere in between. (Thankfully, a dusting of powdered sugar hides a multitude of sins! 

Working with the Dough

The original recipe calls for 5 cups of flour, but depending on humidity or how you measure, you may find the dough a bit too soft to handle. If that’s the case, you can:

• Add up to 1 extra cup of flour while mixing, or
• Sprinkle flour liberally when rolling and shaping.

Note: I was baking bread this day and I had bread flour on the counter. For this recipe you will use All purpose flour, I do love King Arthur and use it for all of my baking.

Once your dough comes together, refrigerate it — overnight is best, but give it at least 4 hours to chill. This helps the dough firm up and makes it easier to roll.

Preparing the Filling

While your dough chills, it’s time to make the filling. Toast sliced almonds until lightly golden, then crush them. In a bowl, combine:

• Grape jam
• Mini chocolate chips
• Grated lemon and orange rind
• Toasted almonds and walnuts
• Graham cracker crumbs (to give the filling a thicker texture)

The aroma alone will transport you straight to an Italian kitchen.

Once your filling is ready and your dough chilled it’s time to make the cookies. Remember this dough has baking powder and baking soda so you will be able to roll the dough fairly thin. No more than an 8th of an inch. Any thicker and the cookie becomes too much cookie to filling ratio. You will need to work this part of the cookie process to get it to your liking. Too thin and it breaks and too thick and it becomes a giant cookie.

Shaping the Cookies

When your dough is chilled, roll it out to no more than ⅛ inch thick. The thinner the dough, the better the balance between cookie and filling — but too thin and it may tear, so experiment to find your sweet spot.

Cut circles of dough in your preferred size:

• 3-inch circles work perfectly for a standalone cookie (about 1 teaspoon of filling).
• 1.5-inch circles are ideal when assembling cookie trays.
• Place the bottom circle on a non-greased baking sheet, add a small scoop of filling, and top it with another dough circle. Seal the edges gently with a fork or press them together with your fingers.

Baking the Cookies

Bake at 350°F for 7–9 minutes. The cookies should stay light in color — the bottoms will turn golden, and the edges will just begin to brown. Cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar for that final touch of sweetness (and forgiveness for any imperfect edges!).

I’d love to hear from you! Do you have a family cookie recipe that’s been passed down through generations? Share your favorite memories or baking traditions in the comments below — I can’t wait to read your stories.