Piedmont — Cuneo, Monferrato
Piedmont's cornmeal shortbread — one of the oldest Piedmontese biscuits, made from farina di mais fioretto (finely milled yellow maize flour), 00 flour, butter, sugar, and egg yolks, piped into rings or cylinders through a star nozzle and baked until pale golden. The cornmeal gives a distinctive gritty-crunch texture unlike any wheat-only biscuit, and a faintly sweet corn flavour that carries vanilla and lemon zest. The biscuit di meliga is the traditional accompaniment to Moscato d'Asti DOCG.
Gentle cornmeal crunch, butter richness, vanilla warmth, lemon zest — pale, crumbly, the perfect accompaniment to a glass of cold Moscato d'Asti
{"Farina di mais fioretto: the finest-milled yellow polenta flour — coarser polenta grain produces a too-gritty biscuit; the fioretto grade (ultra-fine) gives the correct gentle crunch","Butter must be soft (room temperature) not melted — the creaming process is what produces the light, aerated biscuit texture; melted butter produces a dense, flat result","Flour blend: 60% mais fioretto + 40% 00 flour — pure mais produces a fragile, crumbling biscuit that cannot hold the piped shape","Pipe with a 10mm star nozzle: the ridges on the surface are essential for the biscuit's characteristic texture — smooth rounds are not biscotti di meliga","Bake at 170°C for 18–20 minutes: low temperature, pale golden — any colour development indicates the cornmeal sugars are burning"}
{"Pipe onto parchment-lined trays — biscotti di meliga stick to unlined baking sheets","The dough must be the right temperature (cool) to pipe without flowing — if it warms, refrigerate for 10 minutes before continuing","One tablespoon of Moscato d'Asti in the dough — the wine's floral sweetness complements the corn","Store in an airtight tin — cornmeal biscuits absorb humidity rapidly; they must be sealed immediately after cooling"}
{"Polenta bramata (coarse) instead of fioretto — produces a biscuit with large, sand-like grains","Melted butter — dense, greasy texture rather than airy and crumbly","Pure cornmeal — too fragile; the wheat flour provides the gluten structure to hold the piped shape","High baking temperature — the cornmeal's natural sugars burn before the biscuit sets"}
I Dolci del Piemonte — Piero Garino (Gribaudo Editore)